Collaboration Software helps businesses enable communication amongst team members by providing them with a convenient, easy-going space to straightaway message each another, communicate as a group, and share pertinent content. Best collaboration software is meant to help users to instantly address their questions, check their tasks, and access common knowledge and files. Best collaboration software is wide-ranging, and the solutions are generally picked based on an array of features and functionalities. Still, all of them are categorized by their ability to provide teams with a freeform workspace to communicate and collaborate effectively. These solutions are meant to be as user-friendly and spontaneous as possible in order to guarantee a high adoption rate.

Best collaboration software are an ideal tool for agile teams that are located in diverse geographies or operating remotely. It is also used in advertising, banking, government, healthcare, marketing, and IT. The primary features of a best collaboration software include document sharing, version control, role-based access and authorization control, progress monitoring, multichannel interaction tools, and a document warehouse. The software also enables employees collaborate with ease, communicate instantly, and share resources. Operating in a cooperative environment, multiple users can simultaneously manage and share tasks, projects, and updates in real time.

Top 10 Best Collaboration Software

1. Agility
2. Causeway
3. Microsoft Teams
4. Office 365
5. Miro Collaboration Software
6. Cisco Webex Meetings
7. Mural Collaboration Software
8. Fusion 360
9. DragonForce
10. Zoho Projects

Market Overview

The best collaboration software market size is likely to grow at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2020 to 2027. Growing need for visual data interchange and digitization is providing a push to this market growth. Assimilating web conferencing tools with other communication tools improves the functionality of best collaboration software and offers the ability to practice well-organized communication amongst participating members. Moreover, businesses have started understanding the benefits of using reasonable video conferencing solutions, which is enabling wide-scale acceptance of best collaboration software.

Drivers

Growing usage of smart meeting rooms

The growing tendency amongst organizations to use smart meeting rooms is providing excellent projections to market growth. Contemporary and ground-breaking technologies allow corporates to enable continuous connectivity amongst their staff, which improves productivity, nurtures creativity, and provides businesses with a competitive edge against their competitors. Meeting rooms armed with assimilated smart control panels improve meeting experiences by streamlining and combining input commands, which enables better user experience and boosts positive collaboration. Moreover, best collaboration software offer the ability to record meetings for members to follow up and take points from an earlier conducted meeting.

Rise in demand for uninterrupted wireless services

The growing need between employees to gain continuous wireless access to collaborative meeting rooms is further driving the best collaboration software market growth. Furthermore, service providers have been associating with other businesses to offer mobility solutions to enable operation process from any space and involve in active cooperation and competent product development or content creation. For example, Microsoft announced its partnership with Steelcase and APC by Schneider Electric in the recent past to provide the Roam Mobile Stand and APC Charge Mobile Battery to allow resourceful content creation and delivery on the move while remaining associated with the team. Moreover, businesses all over the world have started investing comprehensively in mobile technologies, which is further enabling an anywhere, anytime workforce. 

Rise in APIs

The rise of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) has allowed large businesses as well as SMEs to implement collaboration software for numerous devices and platforms that enable secure data collection. Important feedback from users help developers to make required changes to offer continuous user experience, which is increased by the presence of best collaboration software and solutions. Additionally, the presence of collaboration software helps development teams to cooperate with other teams on a real-time basis, thus assisting one another to build high-quality solutions. APIs enable the integration of on premise as well as cloud-based applications, thus allowing efficient communication amongst on-site employees and remote workers.

Agility, Causeway, Microsoft Teams, Moqups, Office 365, Miro, Cisco Webex Meetings Collaboration, Mural, Fusion 360, and Basecamp Collaboration Software have been identified as Visionary Leaders in the best Collaboration Software market.

Zoho Connect, Concrete, COR Collaboration Software, Ora, Connect, Circuit Collaboration Software, and DragonForce have been identified as Dynamic Differentiators in the best Collaboration Software market.

Zoho Projects Collaboration, IBM Notes, Rocket.Chat, Quire, Session, Bitrix24 Collaboration Software, and Yammer have been recognized as the Innovators in the best Collaboration Software market.

Avocode, Unily, Inkling, G Suite, Loom, and Gravity Collaboration Software have been positioned as the Emerging Companies in the best Collaboration Software market.

What are some of the most common functionalities of a Collaboration Software?

Content management

The software facilitates association amongst numerous authors to create and edit the same document instantaneously. It enables users to highlight text or add remarks, which can be combined when editing. Some solutions also help users to consolidate and structure content according to the document type.

Document management

Best collaboration software enables users to upload and share files such as documents, videos, and pictures. It also enables users to stock, track, and handle various versions of a document and apply role-based authorizations to restrict access to exact sections of a document.

Calendar management

Users can see separate as well as team-wide calendars to plan activities or meetings on the calendars of team members they are teamed with, regardless of their locations. This feature may also comprise harmonization with third-party calendar management apps (e.g., Apple's Calendar, Google Calendar).

Knowledge management

The software allows users to preserve a repository of all accessible resources (documents, files, etc.) associated to finalized and continuing projects in their organization. This process enables knowledge sharing inside an organization.

Communication software

Best collaboration software provides communication tools that help users to engage with other project members. These tools contain internal messengers, video conferencing, conversation forums, and team-specific group creation competences. Some solutions also enable users to create an internal social network with the competence to build distinct as well as team bios, so users can like and comment on project updates.

Project management

The software allows users to track project progress by breaking projects into numerous tasks and setting finishing milestones for each. This enables managers to allocate tasks, track project dependences, set deadlines for tasks or projects, and rearrange tasks according to team agendas. Certain solutions also provide Gantt chart representation to envisage project completion timelines.

Third-party integration

Most of the collaboration tools in the market are top of the line and focus only on a particular group of features. However, some businesses may need a software that can handle their core tasks as well as assimilate with the other software tools they use, such as email software, instant messaging app, VoIP software, video conferencing solutions, and project management tools.

Why use Collaboration Software?

Collaborating online enhances communication

Best collaboration software allows participants to share ideas, deliberate problems and come up with solutions. Well-organized and quicker communication is enabled. Team members can leverage the chat feature to chat with a colleague or a group of colleagues quickly and this can decrease internal email considerably. Everyone can see the tasks, who they have been allocated to and what deadline has been set for conclusion. Decision-making is faster and the need for meetings is reduced.

Collaborate online from any location

The best thing about collaboration tools is that all the members can participate from any location and projects can consistently move at a fast rate. For remote teams, best collaboration software allows personnel to work at any time and any location that suits them. Team members get all the tools they need and can provide updates from any location in the world.

Collaboration brings more ideas

In a real meeting, although there will be a combination of personalities it’s typically the same old individuals who get their voices heard. Best collaboration software facilitates more open communication. Everyone gets a chance to express their ideas. With this software, users can even get the opinions of people from other sections simply by inviting them into their project.

Collaboration tools make project management simple

Best collaboration software helps the project manager to create a thorough plan of action. They can then plan and allocate tasks to team members. If they see that one particular team member has too much work or is off suddenly, they can simple reallocate to another member. Project managers can simply check on progress and predict any likely issues with timelines not being hit. Organizing multiple projects is simpler as everything is in one place.

Collaboration enhances vendor-client relations

With the help of a collaboration tool, the relationship amongst the vendor and the client is enhanced as communication is made simple. A client can instantly see project status, what has been completed throughout the current week and what’s pending to be done. The vendor can also provide quick updates and answer any queries without the necessity to visit people in-person, thus saving time. And if there are any problems, they can be resolved instantly.

Collaboration helps maintain documents

If users have different systems, then searching for a particular document can become difficult. By having the whole thing deposited in one place, whenever somebody needs a document, they can search for it in the appropriate folder or with a quick search. Users don’t have to be worried about various versions of documents, searching emails or saving documents to USB for a meeting.

Collaborating online is superior for the environment

Back in the days when businesses used to print all their emails and documents making a waste of all the ink and paper was expensive as well as not good for the environment. With everything online, businesses can now reduce printing costs and have a paper-free office which is much better for the environment.

What are the benefits of using a Collaboration Software?

Flexible work environment

Flexible work atmospheres are one of the main qualities that potential employees look for in the present world, predominantly millennials and generation Z. Per se, progressive thinking businesses are looking for to create advanced, accessible workspaces that appeal to all types of talent, whilst providing their employees with a good work-life balance. Best collaboration software also supports flexible workplaces, since they help users to access the tool at any minute in time and from any location, making teamwork and communication upfront, even when operating remotely. This supports bigger businesses that may have numerous offices in different locations and time zones.

Enhanced security

One of the biggest worries amongst contemporary business owners is the risk of potential security gaps, mainly for those that hold plentiful amounts of important data. Spending in cloud collaboration software help ease these worries, since they are a safe way to carry out day-to-day work. During the early set-up stages, those in charge can establish firm controls on the access and seeing of specific documents or information. This enables permissions to be approved to employees based on their separate roles and responsibilities. Collaboration tools can even alert the pertinent people in case of a tried breach and where unauthorised access attempts have been made.

One, singular platform

A common point of argument for numerous businesses is the excess of tools used inside the workplace, all with dissimilar primary functions. This frequently means tools are bought, overlooked or not utilised fully, wasting valued resources. Instead, having a singular platform which is proficient of carrying out the numerous functions of numerous other tools keeps time, effort and money. Workforces will no longer have to conscientiously log onto numerous different tools throughout the day – here, the whole thing they need to work on projects can be found in one simple-to-use platform.

Real-time collaboration on documents

When numerous team members are working on a project at any given time, it can be problematic to track alterations and work proficiently. With the help of document collaboration function that comes with this kind of software, work can be amended by more than one team member simultaneously, whilst alterations can effortlessly be tracked in real-time. This helps nurture a co-operative and transparent working atmosphere in which team members efficiently work together on tasks without misunderstanding.

Boosts productivity

Perhaps the biggest benefit of workplace collaboration software is the enhancements to employee productivity, which can upsurge considerably when using one. Vital documents and data are on-hand and can be recovered at much better speed, helping to reduce the amount of time which is expended on admin errands or searching for files, which workforces spend, on average, 1.8 hours every day doing. As an alternative, workforce can focus on work that is the most valued and lucrative for the business.

Improved speed and efficiency

Best collaboration software helps all team members to quickly access the info, files, and status updates that they need within a central repository. This is a big benefit for teams that comprise remote workers or are spread scattered different locations. Employees can routinely save their files and updates within the collaboration platform, and even @mention their co-workers, ensuring everyone is always working with the most updated versions. Users can also invite external consultants to join a particular board, assimilating them into the process and keeping all files and communications in a central repository.

Enhanced communication

With the help a collaboration platform, even team interactions become well-organized. Many of these solutions comprise features such as instant messaging and video calls (along with screen-sharing competences) so team members can contact each other straight in the system. Furthermore, users normally have the ability to comment on particular files or tasks, which provides context to questions and response. If the collaboration app doesn’t offer innate communication solutions, users should check if the solution can integrate with their instant messenger and/or email platform. This can save time by enabling employees to suitably email files to the collaboration platform for direct upload.

Better project management

While it doesn’t totally replace particular project management solutions, best collaboration software helps managers and product owners to supervise the development being made on the project. Users can see how their project is developing, make sure the whole thing is on-track, and confirm that their team members are linked to the resources they need. Businesses should look for a tool that provides Kanban boards, to-do lists, and calendars that present when each component of a project is due. If dissimilar projects are inclined to follow the same workflow, businesses should look for a solution that helps them map out the steps and make custom workflows so that they have a template that can be recycled for each project. Numerous collaboration tools also offer reporting functionalities that give provide users with a quick and clear overview of the project. For instance, users may wish to see reports regarding which stages of the project are active, which are unassigned, and which are late. The tool will probably offer automatic reports that can be produced on a custom agenda. By keeping an eye on who is burdened and who can take on more tasks, the project manager can be proactive in stopping burnout.

Easy report generation

Reporting is a vital feature of project work and it can be a demanding task. Moreover, if a project manager has a large team, they can lose sight of all the activities done by different team members. However, with the help of a high-quality online collaboration platform, they can instantly and easily create comprehensive reports on project activities to keep all stakeholders updated on the work done.

What are the types of Collaboration Software?

Communication and Task or Project Status Sharing

Countless times, this type of software enables instant messaging amongst workers. Workforces can get to know what others are working on and what their work progress is. This can also be a shared work base where personnel can access shared documents or policies set forth by the company.

Project Collaboration and Coordination

This tool allows workers to create teams or sub-teams with the only purpose of finishing a project. Normally, employees will have numerous workplaces that others can join. They most probably have the ability to share project papers or other forms that other personnel in the team can work on remotely and simultaneously. The tool should be able to enable employees to set timelines and communicate with fellow team members.

Conferencing

There might be times when team members need to communicate face-to-face in order to share project progress. This is where web conferencing solution comes into play. These tools enable team members to share screens and watch each other through video calls. These tools are an effective way of complementing project management/collaboration or social sharing software.

Knowledge Sharing

In the last few years, wiki documents have become progressively popular. They help users to edit documents competently. This software could effortlessly be applied to the workstation. If managers are working on a technical report that will be shared with the other team members, then it would make sense to have willingly recognizable and editable workplace program documents.

What are the key features of a Collaboration Software?

Internal Communication System

Teams need a well-organized communication system which would help them stay the on task and not miss important aspects of continuing projects. With several tools built into collaborative apps that enable all forms of communication - email, IM, voice, video - as well as procedures to review and recover chats and discussions, team members are guaranteed of continuous coordination and kept in sync.

File-Sharing

Similar to communication, the capability to share files, documents, information, and all other types of media is one of the most vital features of best collaboration software.  Many groupware now carry strong document management systems, helping businesses and the team members with a suitable means to share, access, view, and recover files.

Content Creation

Many comprehensive collaboration platforms provide content creation features that allow for the making and publication of content, both for internal as well as external users. This is valuable for inbound marketing tasks, like creating blogs and educational content to appeal to new viewers and improve the business’ online presence.

Powerful Search

Searching for old files, old conversations, or previous blog posts are enabled by the robust search capability of the best collaboration software. What was formerly a time-intense process has become simple as now users can leverage tags and search filters to search what they are looking for swiftly and competently.

Personal and Group Calendars

Keeping a tab on many meetings, events, and other significant topics that need users’ attention is a sure challenge. Individual, as well as group calendars, are essential features in many collaborative platforms which help businesses and the team members stay accustomed, involved, and available at all times, wherever they may be.

Instant messaging

Instant messaging helps users to interchange text messages and online files instantaneously through a computer. The interchange is cooperative and most applications permit the interchange of video files, voice communication and video conferences.

Document Synchronization

Document synchronization intends at matching two documents. This means that any alteration, adding or removal of a document in a directory will also be operative in the second directory. This way, workforces have the newest version and the data remains the same ubiquitously. The two documents remain precisely alike.

Cloud Storage

Storage can be done inside the organization as well as on the cloud. Cloud storage exploits the influence of the server’s data storage system which lives in the cloud. The data is kept remotely through a telecom network.

Video Conferencing

A technique of communicating with a live, pictorial connection with the helps of a video with numerous people across numerous locations. In-person meetings can be substituted with video conferences so the team can still get the feeling of seeing each other as they connect.

Whiteboards

An online whiteboard is a correct substitute of the classic whiteboard. Collaborators can take chances communicating visual data through text, drawings and visuals on this whiteboard then remove it as they would with an actual dry eraser.

What are the major services offered in the Collaboration Software market?

The collaboration services market is segmented into four categories: audio conferencing, video conferencing, web conferencing, and other conferencing services market. According to

360 Quadrants estimates, audio conferencing forms the largest segment because of affordability and requirement for lesser IT infrastructure such as video cameras, projectors and others which are a prerequisite in case of other conferencing services.

Audio Conferencing Services

Audio conferencing is a communication session with three or more participants using an audio mode of communication, most often the telephone. A key driver behind using audio conferencing services is its easy access. Audio conferencing can be accessed from anywhere globally through VOIP (Voice over IP), cellular and public switched networks. Key players in the audio conferencing market include Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Citrix, and SMART Tech.

Video Conferencing Services

Video conferencing is a communication session with two or more participants that share video and sound signals. Video sharing is done using a camera and sound sharing is done using a microphone. Outsourcing and offshoring is the key trend among multinational organizations today. Outsourcing is done mostly by western countries to low income countries such as India and China. Since physical monitoring of the work is impossible due to distance barriers, video conferencing becomes a viable option that helps ensure affordable and productive business. It is observed that video conferencing has application in markets such as telemedicine, manufacturing, banking and financial service, telejustice, cultural integration, telecommuters and teleworkers. Key players in the market are Avaya, Cisco, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Polycom, and Adobe.

Web Conferencing Services

Web conferencing is a communication session with two or more computer users that share data and can view the user’s desktop screen application on a real time basis. Major players include Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya, and Citrix.

Integration Services

Integration services include preparation, planning, deploying, and optimizing technology investments. Integration services help organizations to reduce costs significantly, alleviate risk, and deliver high performance. This is because, in order to implement and install any IT infrastructure correctly, help from technical and trained personnel is required. Any organization will either have to employ such trained personals or take the help of an external entity for installation. Employing personnel separately for every individual task is not practical for any organization as it increases cost. This is when integration services come into place, reducing risk and cost and enhancing performance delivery.

Maintenance Services

Maintenance services include timely check of software or service functioning, threats from intruders or viruses or updates, and post sales service. Post sales service includes maintenance of the solution as well as provision of the necessary training and support infrastructure. All these are significant factors after deployment of a collaboration solution. Suitable maintenance services allow collaborative solutions to work smoothly for employees, partners, customers and all the stakeholders in the organization.

Consulting Services

Consulting services help organizations to arrive at decisions by conducting high-level discussions that are required to understand business challenges prior to deploying a collaboration software. For instance, cost savings, productivity gains, and to decide on the suitable roadmap. Telephony, Internet Protocol networking, software, or business transformation consulting are key components required to deploy a successful collaboration software.

What are the options to deploy Collaboration Software?

The collaboration services market is divided into two segments on the basis of model:

On-premises and SaaS (Software as a Service). On-premises holds around 35% of the market whereas SaaS holds about 65%. This is because SaaS is an upcoming technology and, unlike the on-premises model, there is no need to purchase a licensed copy each time.

On-premises

The on-premises model involves purchasing a collaboration solution and its in-house implementation. It is typically chosen to be deployed in an organization when security is a major constraint, distance is large, and IT support is extremely costly. Players providing on-premises collaboration services include Cisco, IBM, and Citrix.

SaaS

The demand for quick and fast changing business is encouraging the development of flexible deployment models for application services. Even though the models deployed earlier may be extremely robust, they are also slow to adapt to novel business requirements. The concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) is driven by the need to come up with tailor fit solutions to serve fast increasing business processes. SaaS services connect global employees and virtual teams in a real-time environment. Organizations deploy collaboration through SaaS to streamline business processes for sales, marketing, employee and customer training, project management, and support. SaaS as a collaboration model has several advantages as the collaboration tool can be used as need arises and therefore physical distribution or installation at customer sites is completely absent. Also, the risk of software protection is less as the possibility of theft at customer’s site is absent. Moreover, any authorised user can be connected to SaaS network by using an Internet connection. Japan, Germany, the U.K. and France are the largest SaaS markets. Players providing collaboration solutions through the SaaS model are Cisco, Citrix, Microsoft, and IBM.

Upcoming Collaboration Trends

Asynchronous Collaboration

Prior to remote work, and particularly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies would pitch a new idea and leave teams to thresh out the information amongst themselves. This called for brainstorming meetings that could simple consume the better part of the day. Remote work amongst the pandemic makes such a preparation terrible and unreasonable. Video calls or phone calls going on for hours could simply test human attention span and technology. It’s also more problematic when team members hail from diverse time zones.

Huddle Rooms

Businesses have been substituting cubicles with open-office floor plans since in order to promote employee interaction. But, recent studies have demonstrated that open offices are doing the contradictory of their envisioned purpose. A recent workplace survey said that over half of the employees feel open offices only invite interruptions, thus putting a hindrance on productivity. To address this, several organizations shift towards using huddle rooms. These are fundamentally small conference areas with audio-visual gear where teams can meet for unprepared or planned meetings. Research also shows that these huddle rooms streamline the organization of quick meetings. These also offer privacy to private discussions and allow for a more attentive brainstorming in distracting open office spaces.

Distributed Workforce

Even as governments strive to immunize their people against COVID-19, the amount of global workers perpetually working remotely is projected to double in 2021. The total force of the pandemic has radically changed work preparations, sending dispersed teams on the rise. Scattered teams provide benefits to workforces and companies alike. For workers, these choices provide them the flexibility to work from any location they want and at their chosen pace. In turn, employers enjoy higher quality productivity from their workers. But, the disadvantage to distributed teams is that they make it more perplexing for companies to endorse collaboration amongst employees. In fact, companies say communication and cooperation is a huge brawl for distributed teams. After all, remote workers infrequently meet each other face-to-face. In some circumstances, remote workers don’t even need to communicate with their managers or their fellow employees daily.

Corporate Social Networking

Social media is an essential part of everyday life. So much that regular internet users spend a considerable amount of their online time on social media to link with friends and family. But, social media’s power to bring people together is not limited to individual communications any longer. Nowadays, several businesses leverage social collaboration tools such as Workplace by Facebook to make team struggles more engaging. With the help of these platforms, employees can share documents and images, post status updates, or even set up group conversations just as they would on their social media accounts. The only variance is they’ll be concentrating on work-related info. This makes association feel less of a routine and more of a social activity with their peers. What’s more, because employees are now familiar with the interface of these sites, applying it for internal communication should be easy.

Cloud-Based Communication

Legacy organizations are fast approaching their end of life. With the rising demand for workplace flexibility and working agility, more and more companies are switching from on premise collaboration solutions to cloud-based communications tolls. A recent study confirmed this after they found that online tools have exceeded legacy applications in regards of market. Cloud-based communication helps workers to get in touch with each other more appropriately. Initially, these tools can serve as databases where workforces can upload and recover files as instantly as possible. Furthermore, it allows workers to send instantaneous updates on their tasks. Finally, this allows users to centralize communication amid in-house and remote employees via desktop and mobile devices.