Real-Time Teamwork - The promise of real-time collaboration is a few years from being realized, but some companies are getting a head start. By Tony Kontzer (Nov. 17, 2003)  is an outstanding article on collaborative tools and technologies. I recommend a thorough reading!

"...many business-technology managers see a lot of value in using the Internet to keep people in constant and instantaneous communication with one another, yet they're not certain when that vision will become reality. It's happening, but only in bits and pieces, as with telecommuters who communicate with co-workers using IM and employees who attend project-team meetings via Web conferencing. This concept, known as real-time collaboration, focuses on the person-to-person aspect of a company's broader collaboration strategy. On occasion, technologies such as IM and Web conferencing are being used to collaborate in real time with customers, partners, and suppliers.

"But are the technologies and concept advanced enough to build a strategic organizational plan around real-time collaboration? That's a question business-technology managers are asking, and there are numerous challenges to achieving that goal in the near future. Many of the technologies available don't follow standards and don't link to each other easily, and the performance of multimedia delivery over the Internet hasn't reached a high level of consistency. Then there are the cultural issues involved in getting people to embrace a completely different way of working. "Real-time collaboration apps aren't ready for prime time," says Forrester Research analyst Erica Rugullies. " (my emphasis added)

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