Select collaboration platform

Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results

1Info-Tech Research Group

Select the Right Collaboration Platform

Introduction

Info-Tech Research Group 2

• Organizations are increasingly leveraging collaboration tools in order to enhance team work, but only 6% of organizations are seeing high usage.

• Selection of a standard collaboration platform and toolset used to be easy: Microsoft or IBM Lotus. But now there are many competitors in this market, fueled by the rise of Web 2.0 collaboration paradigms, requiring IT leaders to know what the problem is they are trying to solve.

• IT leaders need to compare the variety of new products available to enable collaboration, beyond just Microsoft and IBM Lotus.

This solution set will help you:

Executive Summary


• Be wary: business need for collaboration solutions are apparent but practices lag in many organizations.

• Businesses are embracing the need to support teams with tools beyond traditional e-mail.

• Collaboration solutions bring distributed people and information together to get more done in less time.

• However, usage of collaboration tools is lacking in many of the organizations that have deployed them.

• Do not expect the infrastructure to grow organically.

• Put strategic intent behind the tool by defining specific use cases or risk spending money on a tool that users ignore.

• Navigate an increasingly complex vendor landscape.

• Selecting a vendor has become increasingly complex due to the plethora of Web 2.0 vendors that have entered the market.

• Don’t eliminate the niche vendors out of the gate – many of them built their platforms with specific collaboration goals in mind and may provide an improved experience over the more established vendors.

• Start with your requirements to weed out unnecessary functionalities.

• Weigh integration with existing tools as high, to boost usage.

• Engage vendors in RFPs and demos to pick the tool that will enable the specific use cases you defined at the outset.

Collaboration Roadmap


Strategize

Understand the Hype Assess Opportunities

Compare Identify Leading Vendors and Compare Capabilities

Select Determine Requirements

Get Vendor Input (RFPs)

Conduct Demonstrations


Consider the team as a design point for support, rather than just the individual

Although many transactional jobs have remained the same, the way other functions work has evolved. As a result, the technology to support those individuals must also evolve to include functionalities beyond what is found in traditional e-mail.

Info-Tech Insight:

Working Style

Communication


E-mail is a painful approach to enabling team collaboration

It is difficult for team members to find relevant files and expertise

Using e-mail to enable team collaboration is inefficient and ineffective because:

It does not enable library services like check-in, check-out and versioning which allow better control and sharing

E-mail creates silos of information only available to one user as opposed to collaboration solutions which help retain knowledge and make it available to all. - IT Manager, Manufacturing

“”

We need to put information in a central place where it can be accessed for generations. - Team Lead, Government

“ ”

With the forest of e-mail being received it is difficult to determine what is useful and in what context the e-mail is being sent. Important e-mails are sometimes missed because of the sheer volume. Attachments being sent are revised multiple times without revision histories. - CIO, Business Services

“

”E-mail remains an accepted corporate communication method. Wikis, blogs, etc., add additional capabilities and opportunities to drive efficiency and innovation. - IT Director, Commercial Banking

“”

Project materials are not easily archived and reusable at the end of the project

It does not promote sharing of information across groups

26%

28%

34%

42%

46%

50%

83%

Sales

Marketing

Communities of Interest

Customer Service Teams

Ad-hoc Collaboration

Departmental Teams

Project Teams

Majority of organizations implementing collaboration solutions

do so to support project teams


• Usage of platforms is growing, which indicates that enterprise collaboration is here to stay.

• Solutions are primarily being used for teams and communities. Teams are organized around common goals; communities are organized around common interests.

• Teams have very specific requirements, which can be mapped to the features that a collaboration solution delivers. Communities are harder to claim success with because of the lack of requirements.

• If your organization does not have plans for a collaboration solution, consider how one could be leveraged with the teams existing in your organization.

Collaboration solutions are all about supporting teams

A majority of businesses today are embracing the need to support teams with enterprise collaboration solutions.

N=168N=159

75%90%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Today By mid-2011

75% of organization surveyed have a collaboration solution deployed, with a further 15%

indicating that they will deploy one within the next 18 months

Get more done in less time by bringing distributed people and information together with collaboration solutions


• Collaboration solutions allow distributed teams to work together, capture and retain knowledge, and are a much more efficient medium to collaborate with than traditional e-mail.

• By providing the right employees with the right technology, organizations can achieve both intangible and tangible benefits that range anywhere from reduced travel, to reduced duplication of effort, to reduced cycle time.

65% of organizations reported having 7 or more goals for their collaboration solution. However, the achievement of goals was not related to the number of goals. Instead, the number of functionalities leveraged, amount of planning, and designing solutions for teams all impacted achievement of goals.

Info-Tech Insight:

Our collaboration platform has resulted in consistent up-to-date information across all team members. - IT Manager, Information Industry

“”

16%

16%

28%

20%

25%

27%

32%

35%

25%

42%

31%

44%

41%

46%

46%

47%

31%

22%

16%

21%

20%

21%

15%

12%

27%

21%

25%

15%

14%

6%

7%

6%

Reduce email storage

Locating internal expertise

Reduce travel costs

Reduce cycle time

Innovation

Reduce duplication of effort/content

Capture and retain knowledge

Support of distributed teams

Support of distributed teams is the most common and most achievable goal

Fully achieved Partially achieved Did not achieve Was not a goalN=168

Refer to “Enterprise Collaboration Revisited: The Web 2.0 Factor” for more details about collaboration features and an overview of the traditional and emerging vendors.

Info-Tech Research:

Collaboration frequently occurs around content, so content features need to be considered


4%

9%

13%

15%

25%

37%

40%

52%

58%

62%

Other

Activity feeds

Expertise search

Self-maintained profiles

Teamware support

Communities/discussion forums

Blogs and wikis

Email integration

Real-time communication

Content management

Content features are the most common among implementing organizations

N=186

• Both the number of features deployed and the type of features have a positive impact on usage. The top three features with the highest impact on usage include:• Content management.

Collaboration around content is very common, so collaboration platforms must support this practice. However, a collaboration platform is not a substitute for a enterprise content management system, which supports mission critical content lifecycles, or vice versa.

• E-mail integration. Enabling document libraries, discussion boards, calendars, etc. to receive new postings via e-mail provides useful reminders to users.

• Expertise search. Giving users the ability to locate relevant expertise that exists within the organization promotes information sharing across groups.

Features with the

most positive impact on

usage

http://www.infotech.com/research/enterprise-collaboration-revisited-the-web-20-factor

High Usage6%

Moderate Usage48%

Minimal Usage44%

No Usage2%

Only 6% of organizations are reporting high usage with their collaboration solutions


• Many organizations are not seeing the usage that they originally planned for.

• Many of these organizations implemented solutions like SharePoint first and then expected communities to grow on their own.

• Organizations that saw higher usage were putting strategic intent behind their solutions and were more likely to deploy the solutions for teams, rather than communities.

• The reason usage is lacking in some organizations is because they failed to focus on the high value business needs of:

1. Teams2. Ad-hoc collaboration

Although collaboration tools are in place, usage of the tools is lacking in some organizations

N=168

Our issue isn’t the application itself, but rather that we aren’t getting the usage. We put it in and hoped that it would grow organically – but that didn’t happen. - IT VP, Manufacturing

“ ”


• Most IT managers know they need collaboration (or already have a tool like SharePoint) but they are not really sure what they are going to use it for.

• Determine where collaboration will create value and how it will occur prior to selecting the technology.

• Collect specific requirements and document the collaboration strategy/business plan.

Planning steps matter.

• Evaluating integration requirements against vendor capabilities is a critical planning step as it will impact overall usage.

• RFPs ensure the right product is being evaluated for specific needs.

• Vendor demos allow you to evaluate the look and feel of the products, while also forcing the vendors to prove that their tool can do what is says it can do.

Vendor selection process matters.

Organizations in the top quartile for achievement of goals took 30% more planning and selection steps than those in

the bottom

Important Planning Steps

• Gather user requirements• Solicit business requirements• Create a written collaboration strategy/business plan

Important Vendor Selection Steps

• Evaluate integration requirements

• Conduct RFPs• Have vendors demo their products

Expect to spend 50% of the total implementation work effort on the planning and vendor selection phase.

Info-Tech Insight:


Define specific use cases or risk spending money on a tool that users ignore

Define where the tool will provide value and what goals the organization wants to achieve with it.

Determine how collaboration will occur via the teams and communities within the organization.

The platform comes last. The tool needs to enable the business, not drive it.

123

The benefit of SharePoint is that it can do so many things, and the downside of SharePoint is that it can do so many things. Trying to figure out how we could use it was a challenge. - Director of Application Architecture, Financial Services

“”


• Based on your answers to a series of questions about your environment, the Info-Tech “Collaboration Opportunity Assessment Tool “ will recommend an appropriate deployment approach for the organization.

• Four common scenarios are:• Widespread Deployment: Deploy a

comprehensive suite to most of the organization.

• Targeted Deployment: Deploy a comprehensive collaboration suite to specific user groups.

• Gradual Deployment: Deploy collaboration functionalities that will help you achieve your top goals and, as those prove successful, look to expand.

• Delay Deployment: Explore potential opportunities with business management and end users further before acquiring a tool.

Leverage Info-Tech’s opportunity assessment tool to uncover potential collaboration use cases

Collaboration Solution Opportunity Assessment

Gradual Widespread

Deployment Deployment

0 0

Delay Targeted

Deployment Deployment

0 1

Explanation of OpportunitiesFocus on achieving the goals that your organization has with appropriate user groups.

User Groups

Collaboration Goals

Overall Results

Based on the answers you provided, your organization scored in the "Targeted Deployment" quadrant. This means that you have a high number of goals and a subset of your organizatoins users will benefit

from collaboration solutions. Deploy a comprehensive collaboration suite to these appropriate user groups.

The users that you should focus collaboration solutions for include: - Project Teams

Your organization can achieve the following goals with formal collaboration solutions: - Improved innovation - Support of distributed teams - Capturing and retaining knowledge - Reducing cycle time

High Potential User Base

Low Potential User Base

Low Collaboration

Goals

High Collaboration

Goals

http://www.infotech.com/research/collaboration-opportunity-assessment-tool

http://www.infotech.com/research/collaboration-opportunity-assessment-tool



Strategize







• Now there are many competitors in this market, fueled by the rise of Web 2.0 collaboration paradigms.

• The defining difference between new vendors and established ones is the starting point. Established vendors built their platforms from a content management perspective; new vendors have built theirs with collaboration as the priority.

• Established vendors have recently bridged the collaboration and content management gap – making it increasingly difficult for organizations to buy the right product.

• To complicate the selection process further, many niche vendors have SharePoint connectors that deliver more advanced collaboration features so that organizations can continue to leverage their current SharePoint environment for content management.

SharePoint continues to dominate, but that doesn’t make it the de facto choice

Microsoft continues to maintain the vast market share – holding a comfortable 71%

of surveyed organizations using a collaboration solution.

N=159

Just a few years ago, selection of a standard collaboration platform was easy: Microsoft or IBM.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

(MOSS)45%

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services

(WSS)26%

IBM Lotus Quickr6%

Open Text3%

Drupal2%

Jive1%

EMC1%

Other16%

Microsoft continues to maintain a vast amount of the market share – holding a comfortable 71% share of the organizations Info-Tech

recently surveyed who were using a collaboration solution.


• Free options offered by many vendors have encouraged the high deployment rate of collaboration solutions.

• In 2007, more organizations were using Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) than those using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). The numbers switched in 2009, where MOSS held 64% of the total SharePoint users.

• This trend is expected to continue in the next 18 months with the release of SharePoint Server 2010 (next version of MOSS) and SharePoint Foundation 2010 (next version of WSS).

Microsoft’s freemium strategy with WSS is an effective pull-through for MOSS

2007 N=245, 2009 N=159, Future Use N=157

Note: The 4th version of WSS is renamed Foundation 2010

54%

36%

25%

46%

64%

75%

2007

2009

Expected Future Use

WSS vs MOSS SharePoint Usage

WSS MOSS

When evaluating products, it is critical that the functionality provided with a free version is compared against organizational needs. Sometimes a free version is limited in functionality, the number of users, or a combination of both.

Info-Tech Insight:

Usage of MOSS (paid-for server version) has increased over the last two years, and is expected

to continue to grow

Microsoft and Open Text lead the collaboration vendor landscape, thanks to their excellent feature sets and high

accessibility


Vendor Collaboration Features

Content Features

Affordability Architecture

Company Strength

Overall Rating

Microsoft ** *** ** *** *** Champion

Open Text

*** ** *** ** **Champio

n

EMC ** *** * * ** Contender

IBM ** ** * ** *** Contender

Socialtext ** * ** ** * Contender

Drupal ** *** *** ** * Vanguard

Jive *** ** * ** * Vanguard

Champion Have significant presence in the market and invest regularly in R&D to be trend setters. Offer excellent value-for-performance in features, high quality support, competitive pricing – or a combination of these.

Contender

Provide a comprehensive product suite, support their product with regular updates and may or may not compete on price. Competitors have the potential to become future industry leaders.

Vanguard Service niche segments of the market, or are rising stars in the industry. They have identified certain core strengths, or product innovations, that act as their competitive advantage.

For specific details about the evaluation, specific product insights, and strengths and weaknesses of each vendor, refer to the Info-Tech research note, “Vendor Landscape: Collaboration Platforms”.

Info-Tech Research:


• Holistic approach to collaboration; no other vendor provides all of SharePoint’s capabilities within one solution.

• Solution works seamlessly with the whole Microsoft stack.

• Due to its momentum in the market, most vendors have also created integration modules that allow easy connection to SharePoint.

• In the 2010 release, SharePoint Foundation 2010 (free) will replace WSS and SharePoint Server 2010 (paid) [un-released] will replace MOSS.

• Pricing under an Open agreement without software assurance is: $4,389 for each server license, $93 for each Standard CAL, and $74 for each Enterprise CAL (CALs are additive).

Microsoft SharePoint is the market leader with the most comprehensive product

Strengths Weaknesses

• Market leader in terms of adoption; 53% of customers are currently using a version.

• SharePoint sitting on the backend can greatly improve the functionality of Office tools (e.g. extend Excel’ power).

• A 2010 version of SharePoint is on the verge of release, improving much of the team-based collaboration, search and content management and business intelligence functionalities.

• Total cost of ownership for all capabilities is lower than purchasing each functionality through pure play vendors.

• Organizations often implement SharePoint “piece-meal” i.e. one ad hoc implementation per department – managing this is a major headache for IT. A proper governance plan and strategy is recommended.

• Much stronger at document management than at Web 2.0-type collaboration in 2007.

• Implementing and getting started with SharePoint can be very easy but complex scenarios require resources trained in SharePoint.

Product: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

We are really exclusively a Microsoft shop and had dabbled with SharePoint 2003 and that fizzled out as the organization wasn’t ready. Then recently we had a project on the horizon that needed over 20 collaborators and we needed a way to keep them organized. So then we decided to go with SharePoint 2007. - IT Manager, Business Services

“”


• OTSM facilitates collaboration within an organization and can be integrated with Open Text’s ECM Suite records management and archiving capabilities.

• The product has a very crisp “Web 2.0” feel. Customers rave about the user-interface and easy-to-use community workspaces.

• Small and mid-sized businesses especially should pay attention to this solution.

• Innovative tracking system helps users access new items without having to navigate through large amounts of information.

• Info-Tech’s survey participants were more likely to recommend Open Text than the users of other products.

• Pricing ranges from $20 to $50 per user with volume discounts for large scale deployments. There are no server licensing fees. Maintenance is about 20% of license costs.

Open Text Social Media minimizes information overload, a problem that plagues knowledge workers


• Delivers a strong user experience via many types of browsers and mobile phones.

• Instant prioritization of data through use of pictures and numbers upon user login.

• Cost-effective pricing offered at a per-seat or per-session level.

• Easy to deploy right out of the box.

• Not optimized for document management, teams, or communities, but can serve all three.

• Although the product can be scaled for larger enterprises, it is a simplistic collaboration solution that does not offer analytics functions.

Product: Open Text Social Media 7 (OTSM)

At first I thought it almost looked like a video game! I evaluated two other products at the time and found that they didn’t measure up in terms of Open Text’s collaboration capabilities. - IT Director, Education

“”


• An organization with more complex uses for its collaboration tools will find EMC to be a great fit.

• CenterStage is aimed at global enterprises that require collaboration between the extended network of suppliers, partners and clients while addressing compliance requirements for secure information sharing.

• Multi-tier customer and developer support as part of an annual maintenance program.

• Existing users of Documentum’s enterprise content management products will find CenterStage a very compelling collaboration enhancement.

• List price for CenterStage Essentials is $100 per user; CenterStage Pro is $250. However, with Documentum, then it is $0 for Essentials and the Pro client is $150. Document costs $350 list price. Maintenance is about 20%.

EMC CenterStage is a powerful information management solution


• Federated search and analytics engine; simplified discovery of existing information and employee expertise.

• Fresh approach to user-interface. Powerful dashboard creates an all-in-one workspace for increased efficiency.

• Excellent choice for firms with heavy content management needs, such as a law firm.

• Does not yet have a published SDK to support customized development. Expect this to be added soon.

• Requires a high level of IT maturity to implement and support the product.

• Going forward, CenterStage can only be deployed on top of Documentum; this further increases the cost of an already expensive product.

Product: EMC Centerstage

With the combination of CenterStage and the Documentum platform, we get the content services and control we need in an environment that truly fosters collaboration. - IT Director, Education

“ ”


• The solution offers very smooth integrations with Connections, Notes, Symphony, and other Lotus products.

• Quickr is most successful in the 100+ person organizations, given its cost and complexity. Highest adoption in healthcare, government, and finance industries.

• Strong partner network (partnerworld.com) for resellers. IBM also has a network of deployment and integration partners that provide after sales-support.

• Info-Tech’s survey participants were less likely to recommend IBM’s product than the users of other products. The top reason cited was the difficulty for these organizations to integrate the product into existing business processes/applications.

• The presentation and the way that users interact with the software is a clear area where IBM can innovate.

IBM Quickr integrates superbly across their communication suite


• Unlocks powerful ways to collaborate when working within a Lotus environment.

• New deal with RIM allows users to collaborate using their Blackberry device; increases efficiency of mobile workers.

• Excellence in quality of support. IBM has a strong partner network to help end-user adoption.

• Presentation is poor. A better interface would make the product more desirable.

• User feedback was that Quickr does not integrate easily with existing business-processes.

• Higher cost of ownership than competitors. A comprehensive feature set that includes search/real-time communications requires purchase of Connections Same-time.

Product: IBM Quickr 8

We selected Quickr because we are a Lotus Notes shop and wanted an easy deployment with the enterprise class support from IBM. - IT Director, Construction“ ”


• Socialtext was one of the first companies to bring Web 2.0-type functionality to the enterprise through collaboration tools.

• Contracts with customers are either hosted service or on-site appliance. The hosted service is more cost-effective because the on-site appliance is charged a monthly server fee of $1000. However, the on-site appliance, which comes pre-installed with all proprietary software, provides enhanced features such as premium support, more customization options, comprehensive integration options, and advanced reporting.

• Pricing is at $9, $6, or $1 per user per month - comprehensive collaboration at the high end, to micro blogging-only capabilities at the low end. Free version available for up to 50 users.

Socialtext’s SaaS option gets organizations started with collaboration right away


• Runs on a 2-week agile iteration to release regular software fixes. This is four weeks for the on-site appliance.

• Unique delivery model offers the security of being behind a firewall, while providing the constant updates of a SaaS model.

• Cheaper than most competing collaboration platforms for the SaaS model.

• Weak content management features compared to competing vendors.

• The on-premise option is prohibitively expensive for small businesses. The SaaS version is a more cost-effective bet.

• Mindshare of the company is lower than other vendors compared.

Product: Socialtext 4.0

I wanted to find a tool that came with Web 2.0 functionality but didn’t require us to invest in all of the infrastructure. I went to Socialtext’s site and signed up for their 30 day free trial and I invited 40 people to join right away. Since then, the support they have provided us through the process has really been impressive. - CIO, Manufacturing

“”


• Drupal is an open-source content management platform.

• Acquia is an organization that provides support for implementation and ongoing maintenance, and also provides a hosting option. Acquia was formed in 2008 and has about 50 employees.

• Drupal has an extensive developer community with over 350,000 members. There are 400,000 current sites built with the open-source Drupal, and over 4,000+ modules created to extend the platform’s functionality. The community is continually building new modules and tools.

• Pricing for Acquia is $349/year (basic), $2,500/year (professional), $8,000/year (enterprise) for a single server site. Click here for the complete price matrix.

The Drupal community is at the forefront of defining the collaboration space


• Customers can leverage the tools, modules, etc. developed by the Drupal community.

• Large partner ecosystem.

• Highly customizable product.

• Drupal licensing is free. Even with Acquia, it is a more affordable option than many of the other best of breed solutions.

• Offers both content management and community collaboration capabilities.

• Drupal is used to catering to the developer community.

• Usability of the interface need to be simplified for non-technical users.

• Faces competition from both traditional content managers, and social collaboration vendors. Drupal is not the best at either function, though it offers both.

Product: Drupal 6.0 & Acquia

I was originally attracted to Drupal because I had heard really good things about it. Although the interface isn’t the best, I like how customizable the product is and how well supported it is by the developer community. - IT Manager, Professional Services

“”


• Originally approached collaboration as a community-building platform, complete with profiles, wikis, file sharing, blogs, public/private spaces, e-mail integration, and an RSS reader.

• Jive’s strongest selling point is its usability.

• The powerful dashboard provides insights on analytics, social media monitoring, and brand sentiment analysis.

• Jive offers a SharePoint connector.• Funded by Sequoia Capital (Also funded

Apple and Google). In 2009, Jive achieved 85% in year over year growth. Their average deal size is $140,000.

• Three deployment options: cloud (multi-tenant), on-premise, and hosted (single-tenant).

Jive SBS is a premium offering great for organizations looking to engage the external customer community


• Very robust search, very useful usage stats and reporting.

• High usability; consistently high marks in customer satisfaction with the product.

• Excellent tool for companies that want to connect with the external community (i.e. their customers).

• High level of support directly through Jive Resources

• Positioned to provide a social layer for SharePoint document management, but the additional social features coming in SharePoint 2010 will compete with Jive’s offering.

• High price point relative to some of the other best-of-breed solutions.

Product: Jive Social Business Software (SBS) 4.0

One of the appeals with Jive was that we could leverage our current Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) environment and add on collaboration features. One thing I really like is when you are doing a search on SharePoint, then it will also search the Jive collaboration side as well. - IT Director, Financial Services

“”

Vendors are never “one-size-fits-all” - use these scenarios to pinpoint the right collaboration

solution


If you are… Then consider…Most interested in collaboration features Jive

Most interested in content management features

EMC

Interested in both content management and collaboration features

Microsoft, OpenText

Interested in engaging the external customer community

Drupal, Jive

Looking to pilot a free version first Drupal, WSS

Looking for collaboration features that can be added onto your existing SharePoint content repository

Jive, OpenText, Socialtext, Drupal

Looking for a SharePoint alternative with the same all-in-one functionality

IBM, Open Text

In need of much guidance and support from the vendor in how to use the tool

Microsoft, IBM

Heavily invested in Office, Outlook, and other Microsoft products

Microsoft

Most concerned with usability and a strong user-experience

OpenText, SocialText

1 Collaboration features

2 No

3Budget is available to acquire a solution

4 Yes

5 Open Text

6 Yes

7 Doesn't matter

Importance Level

30%

20%

10%

30%

10%

100%

Architecture(includes Integration)

Importance level corresponds to the overall cost of acquiring, implementing, and supporting the solution. Different delivery models can also influence affordability.

Content Features

Is your organization more interested in a free collaboration solution or is there budget available to acquire a solution?

Is your organization already heavily invested in Office, Outlook, and other Microsoft products?

Does your organization already use a content management system from any of the following vendors?

Is usability and a strong end-user experience the number one concern?

Affordability

Vendor StrengthImportance level corresponds to the vendor's client base, quality of support, partner network, experience, and presence in the target market.

Is your organization more interested in an on-premise solution or a software as a service (SaaS) solution?

Part 2: Please scale the factor weightings from 0% through 100% in the second column of the table, where 0% = Not an important deciding factor and 100% = the only factor of consideration for the project. Prioritization weightings should sum to 100%.

TOTAL

Importance level corresponds to the solution's ease-of-use for end-users, the extensibility of the platform, the ability to integrate with other applications, and the number of delivery models.

Corresponds to content-based features (including document sharing, content search, the ability to re-use templates, library services including document control, and simultaneous authoring). Rate this with a higher percentage if content management is important to the organizaton.

Collaboration Platform Vendor Selection Worksheet

Corresponds to the set of collaboration-based features offered (including community forums, bloggings, wikis, expertise search, real-time communication, teams, and more). Use a higher percentage if you plan on heavily using collaboration features.

Collaboration Features

Prioritization Factor Description

Is your organization more concerned with collaboration features or content management features?

Part 1: Please answer the following questions by clicking on the white drop down box to the right of each one.

Is your organization very interested in engaging the external customer community?


Answer seven short questions and assign weightings on five criteria in the Info-Tech “Collaboration Vendor Shortlist Tool” to narrow down the selection process so that the most appropriate vendors can be issued RFPs.

Info-Tech’s collaboration short-listing tool will determine vendors that fit with your current environment and

priorities

Consider your use cases before entering which weighting factors are most important into Info-Tech’s Collaboration Short-listing Tool.

Info-Tech Insight:

Vendor Fit

Open Text Strong

Microsoft Moderate

Jive Moderate

Drupal Weak

Socialtext Weak

IBM Weak

EMC Weak

Collaboration Platform Vendor Shortlist

The following vendor list is sorted based on your answers to the questions and the priorities identified in the worksheet.



Strategize







Due to the vast array of functionalities available, it is crucial to get your collaboration requirements right first

22%

32%

36%

39%

41%

31%

32%

40%

39%

34%

19%

16%

12%

10%

12%

29%

20%

12%

12%

13%

Created written collaboration strategy

Conducted product evaluations

Evaluated integration requirements

Solicited business requirements

Gathered user requirements

Requirements gathering is a very useful planning activity

Very useful Somewhat useful Not useful Did not do

We are still waiting for that one benefit. I believe the team that led the rollout missed an effective planning step that should have included our user community to explain the intent and gather feedback. - IT Director, Business Services

“”

Gather user and business requirements to ensure that you are only paying for the functionalities that you need.

Evaluate integration requirements to ensure a seamless experience for your users.

Conduct product demos to unveil which functionalities are reliant on others, evaluate look and feel and how the tool will integrate with your environment.

Create a written collaboration strategy to evaluate project success at a later date.

1234


• Evaluating a vendor’s integration capabilities is a critical requirement as it ensures maximum contextual collaboration capabilities for end users.

• Increased integration results in increased use, and user uptake is usually the biggest challenge experienced with collaboration tools.

• Although cost is important, it comes 4th in order of priority behind collaboration and content features.

• Don’t be fooled by a good price. Integration and features are what will matter when it comes to evaluating project success as they have a greater impact on usage.

Supporting Client quote

To boost usage, ensure the collaboration platform chosen will integrate with your existing tools

N=163

Organizations surveyed, that assessed integration capabilities, rated usage 25% higher than those that skipped this step.

Info-Tech Insight:

11%

13%

19%

19%

21%

24%

50%

69%

72%

53%

53%

60%

65%

38%

19%

16%

26%

26%

18%

10%

9%Delivery Options

Ease of Deployment

Vendor Reputation/Stability

Cost

Content Features


Integration Capabilities

Integration capabilities are the #1 vendor selection criteria

Most Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important


Organizations that conducted formal product evaluations reported achieving 28% more goals

While collaboration features and integration should be top vendor selection criteria, collaboration frequently occurs around content, so content services must be part of any collaboration platform and factored into the RFP.

Info-Tech Insight:

Issuing RFPs is a critical step in your vendor selection process. The Info-Tech “Collaboration Solution RFP Template” comes populated with important elements you don’t want to forget. These include:•The Statement of Work•Proposal Preparation Instructions•Scope of Work•Specification & Requirements•Vendor Qualifications & References•Budget & Estimated Pricing•Vendor Certification

Name of Vendor 1

Name of Vendor 2

Name of Vendor 3

Name of Vendor 4

Name of Vendor 5

Feature Requirements CriteriaLevel of

DesirabilityName of Vendor 1

Name of Vendor 2

Name of Vendor 3

Name of Vendor 4

Name of Vendor 5

Activity FeedsProvides users with a list of relevant actions that happened on the platform.

Not Applicable No Yes Yes

Blogs & WikisWeb pages that support publishing posts for either a single user or a team.

Mandatory Yes Yes Yes

Micro-blogging Form of blogging that is much shorter. Ex: Twitter Mandatory Yes Yes YesCommunities & Discussion Forums

Enables groups of users that are organized around a common interest.

Mandatory No Yes Yes

Email integrationDocument libraries, discussion boards, calendars, etc can be enabled to receive new postings via e-mail.

Desirable Yes Yes Yes

Mobile phone support Functionality of the software is available via mobile phones. Desirable Yes No Yes

People SearchAbility to find relevant people by job title, department, expertise, interests, etc.


PollingSimple surveys that can be easily integrated onto blogs, wikis, discussion forums, etc.

Not Applicable Yes No Yes

Real-time communication: Chat

An interface that provides real-time Web communication. Desirable Yes Yes Yes

Real-time communication: Presence

Real-time tracking of user status information, including availability, location, and preferred method of contact. Desirable Yes Yes Yes

Real-time communication: Screen/Application sharing

Ability for one user to share their screen or application with multiple viewers.

Desirable Yes Yes Yes

Real-time communication: Whiteboarding

Placement of a shared file on an on-screen "whiteboard" that allows more than one person to work on the file at any given time, with the two versions being kept in sync.

Desirable Yes No Yes

Real-time communication: Audio

Ability for users to have a voice conversation over the web. Desirable Yes No Yes

Real-time communication: Video

Ability for users to have a conversation over the web that includes video. Desirable Yes Yes Yes

ReportingDashboards or other reporting tools that show solution usage. Mandatory Yes Yes Yes

Self-maintained profilesAbility for users to create and maintain their own profile page. Mandatory Yes Yes Yes

Site personalizationAllows users to customize their interface, including selection and sorting of content elements and applications. Mandatory Yes Yes Yes

Social bookmarkingThe ability for users to share, organize, search and manage bookmarks of web resources. Mandatory Yes No Yes

Team sitesCollects all required information for collaborative project work, including background documentation, timelines, and checklists.


User permissions management

Enables administrators to control access to content and applications based on user profiles and user groups.



Instructions: 1. Indicate the desirability of each of the listed collaboration features. 2. Add any additional features in the "Other" cells.3. Indicate whether or the vendor can meet each of the documented requirements below by using the Yes/No drop down boxes.***DO NOT ADD OR DELETE ROWS AS THIS WILL IMPACT THE SCORING ALGORITHM***

Project CharacteristicsPlease Insert Your Vendor Names Below:

Level of Desirability

Mandatory criteria are requirements that would knock out any vendors that are unable to meet them.

Desirable criteria are requirements that the organization would like as part of the solution.

Not applicable criteria are requirements that the organization does not need.


Scoring RFP responses puts hard numbers behind the vendor claims

The Info-Tech “Collaboration RFP Scoring Tool” comes prebuilt with the important criteria you should be considering when evaluating your RFP responses. Use the tool to drive the selection meeting with your procurement department. Category Weight Name of Vendor 1 Name of Vendor 2 Name of Vendor 3 Name of Vendor 4 Name of Vendor 5

Collaboration Features 40% 93% 82% 100% 0% 0%Content Features 20% 91% 45% 91% 0% 0%Architecture 20% 100% 92% 100% 0% 0%Support 20% 100% 75% 100% 0% 0%

Total Score 100% 95% 75% 98% 0% 0%

114,500.00$ 57,500.00$ 150,500.00$ -$ -$

# of Mandatory Criteria Unmet 1 6 0# of Desirable Criteria Unmet 1 5 1

Collaboration Solution RFP Results

Total 5 Year Cost

Recommendations - You may have to knock out vendors that have unmet mandatory criteria. Go back to those criteria and determine if they are truly required before eliminating a vendor. - Balance features, architecture and support against cost to determine which vendors you would like to bring in for a demonstration.

Instructions: 1. Indicate the weightings for each of the 4 categories by adjusting the %s up or down.2. The total weightings must add up to 100%


Have finalists demo their products or you’ll miss out on evaluating look and feel

If a strong user experience is important, then vendor demonstrations are important. •Allowing vendors to run the demonstration without your guidance will only highlight their strengths. •The Info-Tech “Collaboration Demo Script Template” designed to provide vendors with a consistent set of instructions ensuring an objective comparison of product features – all while you can evaluate ease of use from both a user and IT perspective. It comes built with five common scenarios that you can leverage:

• End User Setup• Collaboration Space Setup• Content Workflow Creation• Research Process Support• Collaboration Space Archival

There are a wide array of personal tools out there that are constantly being improved upon and pushing the user experience bar even higher. You can’t expect someone to use Facebook at home and then come to work and find your tool clunky. - Rahaf Harfoush, new media strategist, author and speaker

“”

Summary

• Although e-mail is still a valuable business communication tool, it breaks down when it comes to enabling true team collaboration.

• Businesses are embracing the need to support teams with enterprise collaboration solutions.

• Usage of platforms is growing, which indicates that enterprise collaboration is here to stay.

• Collaboration solutions enable organizations to get more done in less time by bringing distributed people & information together.

• Put strategic intent behind defining use cases or risk spending money on a tool that users ignore.

• Microsoft and Open Text lead the vendor landscape thanks to their excellent feature sets and high accessibility.

• It is crucial to first get your collaboration requirements right.

• Integration capabilities are a top vendor selection criteria.

• Organizations that conducted formal product evaluations reported achieving 28% more goals.


Need Additional Support?Info-Tech goes beyond research: Speak directly to an analyst and/or engage on-site

consulting services to help your team achieve results.

Trigger Point: Understanding Social Media & Collaboration

Understanding the Impact of Social Media on Internal and External

Collaboration

Reviewing Existing Collaboration Business Processes

Our Advisory & Consulting Services

Establishment of a common understanding of the impact of social media on internal and

external collaboration across the organization

Review of the existing business processes; identification of areas that can benefit from

investment in internal and external collaboration tools

Trigger Point: Developing a Strategy for Social Media & Collaboration

Reviewing Existing Collaboration Technologies

Defining Functional and Technology Requirements


Assessment of the existing information architecture, with emphasis on collaboration

technologies

Definition of functional (business/end user) and technology requirements

Trigger Point: Comparing Collaboration Vendor Offerings

Reviewing the Vendor Landscape for Collaboration Tools

Developing the Business Case, Selecting and Procuring the Collaboration

Solution


Preliminary vendor short-listing of targeted solutions based on established functional and

technology requirements

Business case development, Request for Proposal (RFP) development and vendor

response evaluation

Email our Advisory Team to find out how we have helped other clients and get your Collaboration initiative started today!

Appendix


Associated Research & Tools


Strategize

“Enterprise Collaboration Revisited: The Web 2.0

Factor”

“Collaboration Opportunity Assessment Tool”

Compare “Vendor Landscape: Collaboration Platforms”

Select“Collaboration Solution RFP Template”

“Collaboration RFP Scoring Tool”

“Collaboration Demo Script Template”