Navigating the 3 Phases of Collaboration

Enterprises investing in collaboration can maximize their success by smartly navigating the three key phases of this evolutionary process, according to a recent report from Cisco. As they move through these various phases, benefits will grow.  

“Every company and every organization within a company will go through each evolutionary phase, though the pace will depend on business priorities and collaboration readiness,” states the report. “The key is developing the right components at the right time to maintain momentum and increase the ROI from your collaboration efforts.”




The three phases are:

Investigative. In this phase, organizations are focused on learning and preparation. They are exploring the use and impact of various Web 2.0 tools. In many cases, these actions will take place in a viral or bottom-up fashion that is initiated by a few individuals or a small group.  As a result, tools used in this phase may not be integrated with the organization’s information technology systems. This is an opportunity to test the effectiveness and value of these tools.

This phase provides a foundation for wider deployment, enabling the sharing of best practices and success stories that can drive enthusiasm and support.  However, adoption of new tools and techniques also tends to plateau as early adopters reach their initial goals. “To create substantial improvements in collaboration, the organization, and especially its leaders, need to enact the necessary change management efforts, with their people, processes, and technologies,” the report states.

Performance. In this phase, organizations begin to reap the wider benefits associated with their investments in collaboration. They move from one-off implementations to “carefully organized, supported and broader adoption aimed at improving the way that a business works.” They focus on improving business and process performance.  Moving from the technological aspects of collaboration to the people and process aspects of collaboration, the scope of impact widens. 

“In the performance phase, organizations start the strategic implementation of a matrix of collaboration tools by systematically applying these tools to critical business processes to boost operational capabilities across the organization,” states the report. “The focus should be on development of a collaborative work environment that encourages and rewards collaborative participation.”

Transformational. In this phase, collaboration enables you to reinvent the business. It enables you to accomplish things that previously would have been impossible.  This is where organizations remove functional, political and process barriers that stand in the way of meeting ambitious new objectives.

“In this phase, the organization is ready to employ concepts such as global, 24-hour workflows and virtual teams,” it states. “By being able to easily include employees, partners, and customers in collaborative systems, organizations can successfully implement the ideal of the boundaryless enterprise.”

Interested in learning more? The guidelines for designing your own development roadmap are here.