What the Future Holds

Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company reported that by the 2016, 43% of the population will telecommute, i.e., work from home to some extent.  How this will play out across industries is yet to be seen but one thing is certain, the future  promises exciting opportunities pertaining to technological applications.

In addition, Forrester Research estimates the current growth rate of software platforms that facilitate internal and external collaboration  at 21% annually, and,  that 54% of companies are looking to implement such collaboration.  This trend towards SaaS (Software as a Service) is commonly referred to as "Cloud Computing" ,  Web 2.0 software services  hosted and operated by a third-party provider, often referred to as a wiki.

From a business standpoint, Web 2.0 platforms  promote collaboration with internal and external clients in a way that up to now was not possible. In addition a few of the tremendous upsides of web based collaboration is the potential to reduce the reliance, dependence and proliferation of email as well as reduce time expended in document tracking and version control. Did you know that statistically 50% of your initial and secondary searches for digital information will be unsuccessful?

Online platforms such as iPEP powered by PBWorks provide the ability to collaborate on documents without the utilization of email; streamlining the process exponentially while at the same time reducing the risk of error and improving efficiency. Rather than emailing information to multiple individuals, monitoring, tracking  and culling through multiple varied responses,  documents are placed on a web based collaborative platform for review (at anytime from anywhere in the world).  History trails track the date, time and edits made within the document and all document attributes and content (including PDF's) are fully searchable allowing for seamless access.  Additionally, the platform supports real time editing, social media functionality and instant teleconferencing.

A simple search of the internet reveals high praise for Web 2.0 Collaborative platforms:  "Wikis are one of the fastest and most effective ways to aggregate information from a diverse range of sources or people." (Peter Williams, CEO, Deloitte Digital).  "iPEP's collaboration with PBWorks will revolutionize how we store and share information that relates to physical filing system and our electronic information." (Tamara Meyer, Certified Productive Environment Specialist, Santa Cruz, CA.

From a personal productivity standpoint I attest to the fact that  iPEP powered by PBWorks has streamlined my ability to manage business information and work effectively with external clients and internal teams, quickly, efficiently and safely.