Groupware and collaborative computing
By R.Ramasubramoni | 07 Aug 1999
The marketplace of the 90s has been characterised by fierce competition, increased quality, better customer service and lower prices, which, for the companies has meant more demanding customers (both internal and external), more flexible and responsive organizations and tighter co-ordination among business departments and units. The companies have responded with organizational re-design- flatter organisation structures, cross-functional teams, functional expertise- all geared towards increasing productivity.
For the above system model to work, internally the company needs to have a system to maintain the flow of information, to help information sharing and to co-ordinate joint activity. This is where groupware and collaborative computing comes in.
The technology expert David Coleman defines groupware as 'Computer-mediated collaboration that increases the productivity or functionality of person-to-person processes'. Beyond the definition, what groupware does is to support the efforts of teams and situations that require people to work together. It helps overcome the constraints of time or space. Groupware maximizes human interaction while minimizing technology interference.
Groupware follows from the trend of collaborative computing, which, as a concept has been around for about twenty years. Collaborative computing has proliferated with the growth of networks and with the increased need to share resources and data plus the need for interactive and team bound work processes has seen it become a major technology area.
The broader concept is called collaborative computing which allows group interaction-- communication, information sharing and co-ordination of group activity. These three form the corner stones of collaborative computing.
Groupware is the set of tools that provide the framework for collaborative computing. In this framework we can think of tools (elements) like
- Electronic Mail and Messaging - for the messaging infrastructures and e-mail systems
- Group Calendaring and scheduling which are for calendar(activity), meeting and resource co-ordination.
- Conferencing and meeting systems- real-time and non real-time conferencing and collaborative presentation systems
- Group Document Handling - Group editing, shared screen-editing work, group document/image management and document databases.
- Workflow tools- Workflow process diagramming and analysis tools, workflow enactment engines, electronic forms routing products.
- Workgroup Utilities and Development Tools - Utilities which support group working, remote access to someone else's computer and specific tools for workgroup applications development.
- Groupware Frameworks, services and applications
The last mentioned is the one that help integrate the other elements to make a seamless and unified set-up across computer platforms, operating systems, e-mail systems and network architectures.
We can see that basically groupware integrates the elements or activities involved in a group-working environment where the typical requirements are: emailing, document sharing, schedule management and co-ordination, workflow co-ordination, conferencing etc.
The major groupware products are Novell GroupWise, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, Netscape Communicator, SuiteSpot Server, Lotus Notes, TeamOffice, OpenDoc, GoldMetal Workgroup and OpenMind.
What are the gains? Increased productivity, better customer service, automation and standardisation of routine processes, hence tuned towards quality initiatives like TQM, fewer meetings, the base infrastructure for and the possibility of extending the organization to include both the customer and the supplier, integration of geographically disparate teams, better co-ordination, leveraging professional expertise, increased competitiveness through faster time to market and getting differentiated in the marketplace.
With groupware, the critical success factors are the technology, economics and the internal dynamics of an organisation in an increasing scale of magnitude. It has been seen that for groupware to succeed, the culture of the organisation has to be tuned towards sharing of information with a flat and open hierarchy to complement it. Groupware forms a first step towards knowledge management. (see article ).
What next? Groupware is now progressing towards the Internet, like many other recent technologies. As the Internet becomes widespread and organisations move towards intranets, collaborative or workgroup computing has started migrating towards the Net. Products like Netscape Collabra, Lotus notes and Microsoft exchange interface with the web easily. The internet has made workgroup computing easier and highlighted the effectiveness of groupware.
Featured articles
Lighter than air, yet very, very powerful
By Kiron Kasbekar | 03 Jan 2024
In March 2013 Chinese scientists pulled off a remarkable feat. They created the world’s lightest aerogel. Tipping the scales at a mere 0.16 milligrams per cubic centimeter – that’s a sixth of the weight of air!
COP28 explained: A closer look at COP28's climate change solutions
By Aniket Gupta | 27 Dec 2023
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, took place from 30th November 2023, to 13th December 2023, at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
What is a Ponzi scheme?
By Aniket Gupta | 06 Dec 2023
Ponzi schemes have long captivated the public imagination, drawing unsuspecting investors into a web of illusion and deception.
The Rise and Rise of HDFC Bank
03 Jul 2023
HDFC, which surged ahead of global majors like HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc and left Indian peers like State Bank of India and ICICI Bank in market capitalisation, now ranks fourth largest among the world’s most valuable banks, after JPMorgan Chase & Co, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd and Bank of America Corp
India’s Millet Revolution To Enrich Global Food Basket
02 Apr 2023
Millets, a healthier and cheaper substitute to wheat and rice, are indigenous to many parts of the world, especially in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa, and offers a big scope for expanding production and consumption in the foodgrain deficient African continent
Market predator Hindenburg preys on Adani stock
06 Mar 2023
Almost a month after the damning report of short-seller Hindenburg Research on the Adani Group that claimed that the seven stocks within the group were about 85 per cent overvalued, one of the group's stocks, Adani Total Gas, closed at Rs835 on the BSE, down nearly 79 per cent from its 24 January level, almost close to reaching that valuation