In today’s highly competitive market, innovation has become the silver bullet to a company’s survival. It provides a unique spark in a world where erupting start-ups and expanding channels make turning a profit much more difficult to achieve. So how do we transition innovation from a concept into a reality?

Collaboration has the power to ignite innovation across the board by drawing on the unique set of knowledge, skills and experience, each member of an organisation brings to the table. By blending these different viewpoints and technologies, businesses are able to tap into strong ideas, with innovation being produced over time through collective work and discussion. Innovation emerges through collaboration, and perceptive businesses are harnessing innovation both internally and externally, by extending collaboration to outside parties such as suppliers and partners.

In order to collaborate effectively, internal users need to be armed with the tools required to allow processes, resources, and discussions to flow. Here’s how your company can enhance productivity, decision making and, most importantly, innovation through collaborative technology.

Enhanced communication

It may sound like an obvious one, but a sure fire way to allow users to share ideas, skills and knowledge is by providing more channels of communication. Productivity is enhanced and innovation is sparked by having direct access to the subject matter experts required to shed light on various topics. The same applies for external parties; the more ways of working and communicating together, the more ideas and processes are able to speed up.

Collective knowledge

Centralised document hubs are key in supporting collaboration efforts. Much more than just centralised storage, cloud-based document management tools allow organisations to be much smarter about what they can do with these documents. Setting up workflows, for example, allows for functionality such as routing documents when specific actions happen, tracking approvals, the creation of templates, dynamically creating workspaces, and building mini-systems to match business processes.

Inclusive working

Innovation requires the collaborative efforts of various members of an organisation. Long gone are the days of location posing a barrier – modern technologies allow users to work collaboratively together just as seamlessly as they would have they have been sat in an office together. Cloud-based solutions allow users to work on documents together in real time from any location, on any device. Whilst internet-based communication tools allow for virtual meetings with the ability to present, share screens and video chat, as well as an instant message.

Security built in, not bolt on

Whilst an open methodology of working provides immense possibilities, security should always be included when adopting any new technologies. Whether it is to control compliance, manage access, or minimise risk, it is important to take into account both internal and external risk, in order remediate before implementation. Whilst the objective is to unlock innovation, there’s no reward for doing so if you lose your intellectual property in the process.

Are you looking to see what innovations can be made in your organisation? Join Timico’s collaboration webinar to find out more!