Collaboration is about working together towards a common goal by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus.

The approach often involves teamwork and definitely requires communication. In today’s fragmented business environment ­ – across geographical regions and time zones ­ – technology has been a great enabler in providing tools and communication resources to users within and outside organisations.

Most business is done in the context of a relationship, says William Buist, president of the BlackStar life community on business networking site Ecademy.

“With the current economic climate, cost will return to the corporate equation. Therefore, finding the right partner at the right cost makes collaboration even more important,” he says. “Big businesses need to understand exactly how to collaborate effectively, both internally and externally.”

Collaboration requires communication ­ – and if you are having trouble distinguishing your Facebook from your PowerBook, you may be in trouble. Forrester Research predicts the deployment of enterprise Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, mashups and social networking, will be big news in the coming years. “Until now, IT departments have resisted Web 2.0 tools, often viewing them as consumer grade,” says Oliver Young, analyst at Forrester.

Consumer-oriented communication and collaboration tools that have traditionally been used for social interaction are increasingly being considered for use within organisations. Five years ago, business led the way with regard to the richness of applications, and many corporate tools were adopted in the home to help boost productivity. Now the tide has turned and many business users are demanding the same level of connectivity at work that they enjoy at home.

Tim Jennings, research director at analyst Butler Group, says communication technology will need to become seamlessly integrated with collaboration tools and enterprise applications. “Social networking techniques and Web 2.0 functionality used in the consumer environment will be demanded by the enterprise workforce, who will expect new tools and technologies to be made available at any location and on any device,” he says.

If family members can regularly talk to cousins in Australia through a web camera and internet telephony, then surely corporate team meetings can be executed in the same manner? For the user, this request may appear simple ­ – after all, the technology exists and many workers are familiar with the systems. But for the IT department, progress is not as easy.

The casualness of home use does not sit well within the rigid demands of an enterprise, where security, reliability and scalability have to be taken into consideration. In their current form, many collaborative applications present a risk to the business. However, unless business versions are implemented, there is a danger that Web 2.0 will start to appear unannounced.

“Technology cycles mean that consumer and enterprise technologies often interconnect and influence one another,” says Jennings. “Internet telephony, such as Skype, and the use of instant messaging (IM) in the home is having an influence on the availability of software and advanced features in the workplace.”

Companies are now looking for tools that break down the barriers to communication that typically exist in a multinational organisation. Blogging ­ – the ability to comment on messages ­ – is proving particularly successful and can be used as a platform for open and honest discussion of company developments and issues.

Karl Hood, head of information systems at Partnership for Schools, the public body set up to deliver the government’s Building Schools for the Future initiative, says two-way communication technologies are essential.

“We want our stakeholders ­ – the governors, parents, teachers, pupils and community ­ – to become involved with school projects, and an online presence where people can comment is a great way to share information,” he says.

Partnership for Schools has recently launched a web site, based on Alfresco software, that incorporates social networking tools.

“It’s built around all the things that you find in Facebook because that’s the technology people use all the time,” says Hood. “If we want to promote knowledge sharing and debate then we have to use familiar tools that need no explanation.”

Collaborative working has always been integral to the construction industry, and for engineering company Taylor Woodrow, deploying Google Apps as a hosted service has offered increased flexibility and mobility to its communication strategy. IT director Rob Ramsey says collaboration is not just about delivering the applications; it is also about providing the security and archiving to make the chosen platform a robust business application.

“The Google suite is not a replacement for high-end collaboration tools,” he says.

“But it is excellent for immediate communication within smaller communities. We are getting better feedback and more continuity within our projects.”

Taylor Woodrow estimates it has saved more than £1m by moving to hosted email and collaboration for its 1,800 employees.

But to make conferencing and collaboration work, you need tight integration, according to Marek Suchocki, head of IT at engineering consultancy group Mouchel.

“It’s important that you don’t just end up with a mass of technology options,” he says. “Collaboration expertise has to lie with the user who knows which tools are most useful according to what they want to do. The technology is there to do the brokering between applications, but it’s the user who decides if they want to use IM, videoconferencing or presentation display tools.”

And the impact of travel, not only in carbon footprint but also in economic terms, is driving the push for businesses to use more communication and collaboration tools.

“The difficulties with rising fuel prices is bringing it home to people that perhaps they don’t have to get in that car, train or plane; perhaps they can achieve the same outcome from home or the office,” says Suchocki.

While Web 2.0 platforms offer the potential for encouraging collaboration, another key enabler to effective team work will be the introduction of true unified communications with a seamless, easy-to-use interface. Peter Hall, principal analyst at Ovum, predicts we will have systems that are really intuitive and usable in three years.

“The essence of the concept is the word ‘unified’,” he says. “It’s not about separate bits, but about having applications that work together and use common resources and interfaces. The goal is to provide a suite of collaborative applications that have common presence, interfaces and directories, regardless of device.”