3 tools to improve collaboration in your company

I know what you are thinking, but aside from this first paragraph you won’t see SharePoint mentioned in this column. It’s true that SharePoint has become synonomous with “collaboration” at many organizations, and certainly SharePoint is an impressive product. But there are times when you might reach out for other tools that SharePoint simply doesn’t offer. Here are three of them: a file-transfer tool, a live-meeting tool, and an internal IM/microblogging tool.

File transfer: Many companies are seeing the value of a document library in which documents are able to be secured and tracked for easy access and collaboration. But more and more, especially for larger file transfers, I see people using unsecure USB sticks or unsecured FTP servers to pass data from one person in a company to another. Smaller files go through email, while larger ones take the USB or FTP route. To avoid these iffy routes, you might consider a provider like Accellion, which specializes in large file-transfer solutions products; it has both a cloud and an on-premise offering. The goal of this type of product is to increase collaboration through secure, fast transfer tracking. Doing that will certainly make your organization run a bit smoother.

[ Stay up on the latest Windows developments and insights in InfoWorld’s Technology: Windows newsletter and in our Windows topic center. ]

You may be wondering why you wouldn’t just use the Document Library in SharePoint to upload larger file types. (OK, I am mentioning SharePoint again, but this issue merits some explanation.) All documents uploaded to SharePoint are stored as a blob. That in and of itself isn’t really a problem; in fact, SQL 2005 blob performance has been “vastly improved,” notes Sheetal Jain, founder and principal engineer of Docstree.com.

However, Jain says larger files (anything exceeding 1GB) can cause a problem due to time-outs, running out of memory due to spooling, and Web server performance hits. You might use a NAS or SAN solution and only store links on the SharePoint side to work around this issue, but Jain notes that doing so takes “careful planning, coding and security testing.”

Live meetings: It’s awkward to use the “live meeting” label, given that Microsoft calls its product for Webinars and Webcast meetings Live Meeting. But there are many other kinds of live-meeting tools that you can rely on for communication and collaboration within your organization, depending on your needs. Especially when working with people in remote locations or alternative branches, you should have a way to share face time or app time with others.

One company told me, “We like the use of Microsoft Live Meeting when it is internal (it’s part of our BPOS [Microsoft Business Online Standard suite] plan) because it has recording functions, has built-in VoIP, and integrates with Outlook. However, when we want to give off a more professional look for outside clients, we go with GoToMeeting, which offers all the same features and has a crisper, more professional look.”

You may be thinking that GoToMeeting is the über-tool of live meetings, and I love it myself — but it lacks one key feature: videoconferencing, which Live Meeting has. Some shops go with a free tool like Skype for the videoconferencing side, but Skype is also limited in that it doesn’t provide application sharing. All around, it comes down to choosing what you need for your meetings (check out Mike Heck’s InfoWorld article on telepresence systems for some examples). Whatever you choose, the benefits to using desktop-sharing, app-sharing, and videoconferencing tools will boost your communication and collaboration tremendously.

Internal IM/microblogging: You may know what internal IM is all about, but microblogging might be something you only see happening in social circles with apps like Twitter that let people give mini-updates to friends and “followers.” In this space, you might use a high-end product like Microsoft’s Communicator for its presence awareness and a host of other business features, but that would also require having a hosted or in-house set of communications services on the back end.

For something smaller, you might try Yammer, a great tool I’ve been playing with lately. (Check out Mike Heck’s InfoWorld article looking at Yammer and its competitors for more details.) It has a Twitter feel but only allows for communication with individuals within the same email domain. You can go through the Web site to post your Yammering (which doesn’t have Twitter’s 140-character limit, I might add), or you might download the Adobe AIR-based app for your desktop, which lets you Yammer without a browser.

In my case, I’ve also downloaded a mobile app for my Android smartphone to keep up on company Yammerings. If you want the likes of Yammer to be more than time-wasters for your people — it’s common for IM and microblogging apps to become venues for jokes and foolish talk — you need to have a policy in place to ensure it is viewed as a serious tool.

There you have it: three ideas for improving both collaboration and communication among your people. These are the keys to the success of any business. You simply need to decide now on what technology fits your business and which products have the features you prefer.

Write in and let me know if you have some other suggestions InfoWorld’s readers might benefit from. Or if your company uses the features covered here, fill me in on the blessings and maledictions of doing so.

This article, “3 tools to improve collaboration in your company,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of J. Peter Bruzzese’s Enterprise Windows blog and follow the latest developments in Windows and enterprise applications at InfoWorld.com.