5 Cloud Collaboration Solutions for Governments
As telework becomes increasingly popular in state and local government, it's important to equip employees with software to collaborate from anywhere. Here are five cloud tools to maximize productivity.
Microsoft Office 365
This is a cloud-based version of the very popular personal productivity suite, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, that users can access from up to five different devices. Because files are stored in the cloud, users can easily work with and share documents wherever they are. Microsoft Office 365 also provides features, such as secure project-specific websites, that make it easy for teams to collaborate on documents, coordinate schedules and assign tasks.
Microsoft Lync Online
This is a cloud-based service that provides essential UC capabilities such as presence, instant messaging and multimedia conferencing through a consistent, intuitive user interface. Users can make voice calls through Lync to anyone who uses either Lync or Skype. Lync also provides productivity-enhancing capabilities such as whiteboards and screen-sharing.
IBM SmartCloud
This is an enterprise-class collaboration platform that includes email, calendaring and web meeting capabilities. It also delivers powerful social business functions that allow organizations to create secure internal Facebook-like “walls” for keeping workers up to date on important information about their projects, teams, departments and customers — as well as organizationwide news.
Box
This is a simple, scalable and affordable solution that lets enterprises manage content, share documents and sync files on the desktop. It lets users collaboratively organize files in a familiar folder structure, turning those folders into online workspaces where users can collaborate with others inside or outside the organization. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for users to find content, edit and post comments on documents, track file versions, and manage tasks, such as reviewing and approving files.
Google Apps
Google offers a variety of affordable and easily accessible online tools for collaboration. Gmail, its flagship solution, includes chat and video, as well as other useful tools for tracking interactions with project teammates over time. Google Apps also includes tools for team calendars, shared document repositories and secure collaborative web workspaces. In addition, Google provides mobility tools such as Quickoffice, which enables users to perform tasks such as editing documents from their Android or Apple devices.
Download our UC Collaboration in the Cloud white paper here.
