Integration challenges in collaborative communication technologies

Networking -- Discussion of recent developments in networking technology

Lynch, C.G. (5 Oct 2007). "The Trouble with Online Collaboration Tools."

CIO Magazine. Retrieved 9 Oct 2007 at http://www.cio.com/article/144150

According to C.G. Lynch of CIO Magazine, despite their much ballyhooed usefulness, collaborative technologies like email, instant messaging, video conferencing and intranets often fail to deliver upon their promised value because of lack of integration between the collaborative applications. Only 11% of companies have a strategy as to how to integrate new technologies into an existing it environment, even though e-mail and IMs clearly "drive" company value (Lynch 2007). The article ends with a highlighted box that contains the surprising statistic: "just 45% of U.S. companies say they are currently satisfied with the impact of collaborative and communication technologies" (Lynch 2007).

This article highlights an important emerging field in it -- integrating existing technologies. One weakness of the article is that it does not provide specific examples of how a lack of integration is resulting in loss of value to certain companies. It merely states the fact that this loss of value is widespread, although it is difficult to quantify. But specific anecdotes and examples from even a few workers in companies with poorly integrated networking technology would reinforce the data catalogued in the article. The article is more concerned with giving suggestions to CIOs how to persuade other members of the executive management team to allocate funds to better integrate networking technology, even when it can be hard to show that the resultant worker productivity that results from such integration is due to technological cohesiveness.