Cloud, Collaboration

Cloud-Based Collaboration: Pros, Cons, & Use Cases

Chaz Hager April 08 2022

Business workflows have evolved from whiteboard meetings to spreadsheets and emails. However, as business operations become more distributed, you might find that emails and other traditional tools alone can no longer meet your organization's demands

Be it writing code or publishing articles, collaboration across multiple facets of the business is required. That’s where cloud-based collaborative solutions help. Let’s understand what it means.

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What is Cloud Collaboration?

Cloud collaboration refers to employees working together on a project wherein they can easily work on documents, code, etc in real-time. In cloud collaboration, team members have access to the always-updated version of required files hosted in the cloud.  Thus, Cloud-based collaboration solutions help organizations enable team members to work on projects simultaneously with shared access to resources in real-time.

Cloud collaboration solutions eliminate the hassle of storing multiple versions of the same documents only to merge the feedback of all team members and create the final draft. Instead, cloud-based collaboration solutions empower team members to view and edit the files simultaneously in real-time. The changes are saved and synced ensuring each colleague has access to the updated version of the project.

Pros & Cons of Cloud Collaboration

 

Pros

Organized workflow and improved communication 

Cloud collaboration solutions streamline the workflow as it enables tasks to be seamlessly shared among employees across different time zones. 

With cloud collaboration, project managers no longer need to waste time communicating decisions to associated team members. Push an update in the collaborative workspace and everyone receives real-time notifications no matter where they live.

Increased participation

Collecting team feedback on projects is an essential part of the project for it to become successful. Cloud collaboration allows team members to easily and instantly share their views via comments, chat, or video/audio call.

Seamless file sharing

Email attachments have become redundant these days as most email providers support file sharing up to a few megabytes. Cloud-based collaboration solutions enable team members to share and store large documents as well as audio and video files with ease. It also saves employees from losing data due to fat finger mistakes or other data failure events as cloud storage supports automatic backup.

Always up-to-date 

In a collaborative workspace, you don't need to wait for anyone to send you the 'latest version' of the documents. Team members can simultaneously work together on files that are always up-to-date by default. The ability to set up custom permission levels for different team members makes it easier to share files across different teams, departments, or accounts.

Cons

Lack of unified solutions 

Today, there are plenty of cloud-based SaaS applications for text-based communication, video-conferencing, file sharing, etc. Nonetheless, using distinct solutions for different needs will only create confusion and beat the entire purpose of seamless collaboration. 

Your business needs a unified cloud collaboration tool like Northriver that provides everything under one roof.  Northriver makes cloud collaboration easier than ever with an integrated suite of cloud-based collaboration solutions including voice, messaging, email, and file sharing.

Poor collaboration strategy

If your business does not have a concise cloud collaboration strategy you might struggle to make the most of your cloud collaboration tools. Your organization should have a clear workflow with well-defined permission levels, project roles, a delivery pipeline, and a bridge between different departments of your organization to keep everyone in the loop when necessary.

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3 Use Cases for Cloud Collaboration

Manage cloud environment as physical workspace

It is true that managing remote work is different from real-world offices. Nonetheless, you should ensure your remote team is as organized as they would in an offline setup. Keep review meetings, delegate tasks, set clear goals, and integrate your team's feedback into the workflow to make everyone feel encouraged and involved.  

Communicate through a single tool 

Using a central platform for communication with different channels for separate teams will help your project managers easily keep track of discussions and stay informed on different projects. 

Build a task directory

A centralized task directory boosts transparency in your organization and equips managers to track projects without having to talk to each team. Create a task directory that clearly outlines completed projects, in-progress tasks, and scheduled activities with who's working on what for each project.

Create detailed project wikis

While assigning a project in a collaborative space, make sure you provide detailed inputs on the agenda, resources to be used, team members involved, budget, and other important information. Building a well-outlined project page will help your business communicate tasks better.

Northriver is your cloud collaboration solution partner

Collaborating in real-time increases the overall productivity of your business and helps you achieve more. However, this is only possible if you integrate efficient cloud collaboration solutions into your workflow. 

Northriver provides several cloud collaboration tools in one place to make collaboration easy and efficient. Voice-based communication (call, chat, or conference), messaging, email, shared calendars, seamless and secure document sharing, you name it - Northriver has it all! Contact us today to know more about our cloud collaboration services.

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