Adopting synchronous collaboration services within multidisciplinary organisations

Synchronous collaboration is becoming an increasingly valuable business tool. The challenge facing many organisations is to extend adoption of synchronous collaboration to all employees rather than typically only management or technically competent users. This paper presents a case study on how synchronous collaboration trials amongst geographically distributed individuals or teams, in `same-time-different-place´ collaboration were carried out in a multi-disciplinary consultancy. The trials were carried out over ~36 months with a broad deployment of audio conferencing, some data conferencing and video conferencing in around twelve key locations. As a result of a number of corporate acquisitions, additional audio and data conferencing services used within the acquired businesses were also evaluated. Trials proved broadly successful but revealed inconsistent usage patterns coupled with challenges for users in understanding their obligations when using the available tools. A review was consequently undertaken to re-evaluate service contracts and identify necessary actions to extend adoption.