5 Strategies For More Effective Cloud Collaboration

In the age of the internet, more organizations are slowly transferring their data to the cloud. It was not long ago when an employee had to carry a flash drive around in case they’d have to present a report. Although some employees still use a flash drive, it was more a backup solution than a necessity.

Smart offices have become clutter-free since management can approve requests and reports with a push of a button. However, seamless collaboration between colleagues can be a challenge due to slow adoption and a lack of technical know-how.

Communication can also be a factor in making collaboration challenging to organizations. Messages are ‘left on read’ because some employees don’t know how to reply. They may also be overwhelmed by the number of messages they receive every day. You won’t know if they’ve acknowledged it unless they respond or react to the message you sent.

Having an effective collaboration among employees shouldn’t be a problem if employees are aware of their roles in the company. When there’s transparency among co-workers, they’re not overwhelmed with the information they receive every day.

What Is Cloud Collaboration

Cloud collaboration is a term used when one or more employees work on a particular project stored over the internet or referred to as the ‘cloud.’ The cloud refers to a network of computer servers, each with a specific purpose, stored in a data center and can be accessed over the internet.

It takes a lot of technical know-how if an organization plans on deploying its cloud infrastructure. If you live in California, for example, Sacramento managed IT services from Executech and other reputable agencies can determine what your organization needs.

Cloud Collaboration Tools

There are various tools used for collaboration. Most organizations use Google Suite and Microsoft Office online for office applications while communicating using Slack, Skype, etc. For project management, they may use tools like Jira and Trello.

Organizations use different tools for different purposes. However, it can be challenging for an employee to keep up with the messages and notifications they receive every day. A statistic shows that 34% of Americans check their email throughout the day.

A study conducted by McKinsey, a consulting firm, shows that employees are distracted from work every 10 minutes as they regularly check their emails. Other information showed that:

  • 28% spend their work time on emails.
  • On average, emails are checked 11 times in an hour.
  • 84% keep their emails open in the background, and 64% use notifications so that they’ll know they’ve received a new email.

Employees might be overwhelmed with what they receive during work time and might find it challenging to concentrate on the task at hand. Once employees have attended to their emails or notifications, it takes them a bit of time to get back to work. This could affect their collaboration with their colleagues since they tend to forget the task they’re supposed to do.

Cloud Collaboration Strategies

An organization can address the problem regarding an employee’s distraction during work and improve cloud collaboration by:

  • Learn To Pause Notifications

Learning to pause your notification during work can help you concentrate more on the task at hand. You can pause the notification your email app makes so that you’re not prompted to check what it’s all about. You can also pause the notification your chat app makes as well. You can tweak your settings to get notifications only for direct messages or chat groups you might deem important.

  • Improve Communications

Another strategy that can improve collaboration between employees is to have clear and real-time communication. If the employees are working on a project or a task, they can use project management tools to have centralized communication. When an employee wants to revise, they can comment directly on the project about changes needed instead of sending an email.

  • Limit Organizational Apps

An organization uses different apps for different purposes. On average, companies use 16 apps for their internal operations. All the notifications and messages sent to these channels can overwhelm an employee and lose time for work since they’ll have to read all the updates.

Organizations will have to decide which apps they should use and eliminate redundant ones. They can use apps that can serve two or more purposes during collaboration instead of having separate apps.

  • Easier Access To Files

Employees should access the files easily during collaboration since an email allows 20 to 25 MB of attachment before sending. However, employees should practice safeguarding anything they share on the internet since anyone can access the file as long as the link is working.

  • Develop Policies For Collaboration

Businesses are slowly switching to becoming remote companies instead of having a physical office. It will be a challenge to some organizations since they can’t monitor what their employees are doing. Some companies use time tracking apps that can capture screenshots to monitor what their employees are doing during work. However, some companies don’t use such apps since they value their employee’s privacy.

Organizations should develop policies in place so that employees collaborate better.

Wrapping Up

Collaborating with different members in an organization can pose challenges. However, it will improve when you have the right strategies in place. No two workplaces are the same since they have different workflows and different sets of tools that could help them achieve their goals. Organizations will have to adopt policies that will be best for the company and its employees.