It is believed that the 21st century corporation will not win unless it excels in collaboration – the ‘C’ word is becoming the universal recipe for success. The focus so far has been on the strategy of collaboration, the technology to collaborate seamlessly, and to ensure that it happens in a secure manner. Moreover, it is about collaborating with the ‘external’ world – the multitude of a corporation’s
stakeholders...

What seems to escape the corporate radar is the potential beneft of ‘internal’ collaboration. Organisations can achieve greater transparency, participation, productivity and accountability – by simply being more collaborative within.
 
Then why aren’t we?

I believe it is because most enterprises are externally focused to start with. The obvious advantages of being connected with those outside your company are overwhelming - kudos for cutting-edge technology solutions, the glamour and recognition, and of course, the real dollars to save and spend – dwarf any attention that could be - paid to the ‘internal’ community.

Even those who contemplate greater internal collaboration, have limited their efforts to conventiona uses – specifcally, emails. But this brings in uncomfortable degrees of accountability and transparency And can compromise the privacy of employees. So the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater... 

If we push ourselves to think beyond, then the advantages of internal collaboration with tools beyond email become more than obvious. The immediate benefts are enhanced productivity and effectiveness of work groups; faster delivery of information; reduce response times; and the list goes on. The intangible advantages are as – if not more – important.

For example, an open and connected culture could become a reality within reach if collaborative techniques are deployed internally Enhanced teamwork and ‘collective wisdom’ begin coming to the fore. A short movie I saw recently on the world-renowned innovation company, IDEO, brought home the point, once again, that there is substantial value to be captured internally...

With this in the background, we looked for some pioneers using collaboration as a tool to foster within the enterprise. This issue’s  cover story depicts how Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) uses 'One Mahindra' portal to collaborate, ideate and innovate across geographies. It is a great testimonial of how modern-day technologies like Web 2.0 and Unifed Communications (UC) can help the employees across the company in connecting with each other for personal and professional excellence.