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Online collaboration might be an afterthought at many organizations, not something that makes it to the top levels of IT priority lists. Yet collaboration on the Web is dramatically changing not only the way organizations work internally, but how they relate to outside entities — including customers and business partners.

CIOs and other IT executives can leverage some of the latest Web-based tools to provide new opportunities to speed product development, complete projects more quickly, better serve customers, measure consumer response for more effective marketing and sales, share opinions with business partners and promote the organization.

Use of online collaboration tools is on the rise. Research firm Gartner Inc. in June reported that the worldwide Web conferencing and team collaboration software markets are expected to grow about 22 percent per year through 2010, from $1.3 billion in 2006 to $2.8 billion in 2010. This year the global market for Web conferencing and team collaboration products is expected to total $1.6 billion, up 22 percent from 2006, according to the firm.

Collaboration technology can empower all types of users by giving them a means to share ideas, learn about new topics, compare notes with colleagues, voice grievances and improve productivity.

One of the first things organizations considering collaboration tools should do is create a comprehensive collaboration strategy, so they can have a cohesive plan that takes into account all the potential users of the technologies and how they meet the needs of the organization.

Once a strategy is in place, organizations can choose from an array of collaboration tools that serve a variety of purposes.

Among the most common online collaboration tools are Web conferencing software and services. With these technologies, organizations or groups within enterprises can conduct meetings and present live conferences on the Web, hold online seminars for customers and business partners, and conduct training programs for employees.

Web conferencing can greatly reduce travel costs by enabling people to attend meetings from their own office or home, rather than traveling. Web conferencing can draw attendees from wherever there is Internet access, making it a convenient way to attend conferences. Some online conferencing products and services offer features such as document sharing, multimedia presentations and online polling.

Another form of collaboration, blogging, is becoming increasingly common. Blogs can cover a range of topics and can incorporate text as well as charts, images, video presentations or other graphical elements. They can also include links to related resources on the Internet.

Executives can use blogs to express opinions about the market or some other topic, and elicit feedback from readers. As such, blogs can be a way to generate publicity for a company or address concerns of customers.

Other forms of collaboration include discussion forums, which can be used by employees and outside users, such as business partners, to share ideas and present feedback; wikis, which provide a way for users to easily add or edit information on a page; and instant messaging, which enables people to communicate online in real time.

Some of the collaboration tools are more effective for certain applications than others. But all have the potential to provide benefits to organizations.

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