Business Intelligence Network - The Vision for BI and Beyond

Productive collaboration requires that employees be able to share information and work on documents whenever they need to, regardless of where they're located and whether they're online or off. Collaboration also involves more than discrete business units or work teams -- at one point or another, it involves multiple constituents from various departments, even if they are geographically disparate and unfamiliar with one another or each other's job roles and skills.

Knowledge workers must be able to seamlessly communicate, find information, and get input from other knowledge workers in the organization -- as well as from key partners outside the firewall. The best way to enable collaboration is through a software platform that can ease BPM alignment, information search, workflow and project management, and communication with other departments. The software should also contain auditing capabilities to track whether participants are responding to requests, and rights management to lock down access and sensitive documents. Only by using such technology can companies reap the benefit of productive collaboration -- and see a significant positive impact on the bottom line.