“Organizations around the globe that deploy the most advanced Internet protocol-based collaboration technologies achieve more than twice the return on their collaboration investment and perform better than their less collaborative peers, according to a new Frost & Sullivan study released today.” –Study on Advanced Collaboration Tools.

Save time and collaborate effectively through sharing documents online. The Workteam Collaboration Suite included with any accounting web site hosted by CPA Site Solutions offers not only shared online documents but now also shared folders. Here is a breakdown on why and how to effectively use online documents.

Going paperless. Once implemented with using online documents, your firm is that much closer to becoming a paperless office. There are a few previous posts, about saving time and motivating clients, you might read for some ideas around using the Vault system to help towards becoming a paperless office.

Improve productivity. This isn’t just about saving paper as the study from the above quote points out, it can have a measured positive impact upon your firm’s productivity. The more you use tools such as live chat, teleconferencing, and online documents, the more effectively you collaborate with other members in your accounting firm, and the higher the performance.

Apart from being able to more effectively manage your work flow by meeting via teleconference, there is some real gain from getting people in your firm to collaborate via online documents.

Online documents. This shouldn’t be mistaken for a wiki or something like an internal web page (see a previous post on making and using a wiki). Online documents are very collaborative but still retain the ability to roll-back to previous versions and control who has editing rights. Although some wiki’s may have this ability also, online documents are much easier to use.

How it works. You can access your online documents through your email. Above the Workteam Collaboration Suite logo there is a link that is labeled as “Documents.” If you click on this you are taken directly to your online documents area.

Easily import Microsoft Word 2007. Once in the documents area you can create a new document, import a file such as Microsoft Word, a power presentation, spreadsheets and more. You can then edit these documents online from anywhere you have access to a browser.

Control access rights. You can decide who can edit a document (a collaborator) and who can just read a document (a viewer). That way you can share without the fear of just anyone editing your online document.

Previous versions. You can view your documents revision history and go back to a previous version. You can also create previous versions of a document by exporting the document to your local hard-drive.

See and chat with collaborators. Up to 10 people can edit a document at the same time or up to 50 people with spreadsheet. You can see in the bottom right corner of your screen who is making edits and, best of all, be able to chat with them.

This makes it that much easier to ask quick questions without any interruption to the current workflow. This saves time through in the moment feedback.

It also gives collaborators a space that might not be easily had through a formal meeting. There are some people who come out a lot more with creative ideas outside of a meeting. This gives everyone the freedom to express themselves for the project without the hindrance of getting in front of a group.

Templates. When creating a new online document there are many templates to choose from to get you started. This can save time if you just want to get a document with ideas up and running without having to think about the presentation.

Folders. The new folder system allows anyone to share groups of documents all at once. This is not only faster than sharing them one by one but is also easier to organize.

Using a system online keeps the flow of ideas from anywhere and at anytime. There is still a level of control available to those that need it while still retaining the collaborative element of a group dedicated to a particular project or idea.

Have your own story around using online documents? Send a comment and share it with other readers.

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