8 tips for choosing the right collaborative office suite
“Alone we go faster, together we go further.” This African proverb has been quoted many times to evoke the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Indeed, you will be much more efficient in carrying out your projects by working with several people rather than alone. But above all, the key to an effective and productive team is having the right tools.
The collaborative office suite is one of these tools. It is a set of software that allows you to create and edit different types of documents (texts, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) with several people simultaneously. The advantage of this type of solution is that you and your collaborators save precious time by editing a document at the same time, without getting lost in the different versions.
In order to find the collaborative office suite that best suits your needs, you must take into account several criteria. Here are 8 tips to help you make the right choice.
1. An office suite that promotes remote work
Today, there are few teams whose members all work in the same premises. More and more teams are dispersed geographically, with some employees working remotely, others in company offices, and still others in branches around the world. So, when you choose any collaborative tool, make sure that your employees can use it everywhere, no matter where they are.
2. Compatibility with the most common formats
Surely you are one of the millions of people who use or have used Microsoft Office to create their documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Today, if you decide to adopt a collaborative office suite, it is obvious that it must be compatible with all of your Word, Excel and Power Point documents, but also with other document formats such as PDFs. The objective is for your teams to be able to use it on a daily basis, without having to convert all of their files. And they need to be able to easily exchange documents with your suppliers and external partners.
3. An easy to learn interface
Adopting new software is not always easy. Some employees are reluctant to change, and prefer to continue doing as they have always done. Thus, the key to success is to choose a collaborative office suite that is easy to use and similar to the tools that your employees already use.
In this way, you will save time (and money) because you will not need to train your teams who can quickly take ownership of the tool.
4. An office suite that allows co-publishing
What was missing with traditional office tools was the ability to collaborate simultaneously on the same document. If someone was already working on a file, you could only open it in read-only mode. You had to wait for the person to finish, and close the file before you could open it yourself. In addition, each time a new modification was made, the document had to be saved and renamed, such as “text-version-X” or “text-date-time”. So it was easy to get lost, and to never work on the latest updated version.
Now, next-generation office tools promote collaboration by allowing documents to be co-edited in real time. This means that several people can work on the same document at the same time. Your collaborators can thus add and modify the content, but also leave comments directly on the document for the attention of their colleagues.
5. An office suite that has version control
Co-publishing and version control are linked. In any case, when working with several people on a document, it is essential to always work on the latest version. Now, almost all online office suites allow you to easily consult the history of changes made to a file. You can also go back to an earlier version.
This ensures that you are always working on the latest updated version, and you can easily go back in case of last-minute changes.
6. An office suite that can be customized according to your needs
When it comes to office tools, the needs of each team are different, and can change depending on the projects you are working on. It is therefore preferable to choose a collaborative office suite that you can easily customize according to your needs and desires.
For example, you can choose a platform that integrates easily with the tools you use every day. Some solutions also allow web developers to add or create the features they need.
Do not hesitate to ask your collaborators what functions they consider essential (word counter, automatic correction, insertion of Youtube videos, instant messaging, etc.) to help you make your choice.
7. Access rights and the security of your documents
La protection of your data is essential. When choosing a collaborative office suite, it's important to check that your documents are secure and that you can control their access and decide who can edit them. For example, you can share a specific document with a customer and allow it to make changes or to only consult it in read-only mode. You can also restrict access to certain confidential files.
In addition, it is essential that your online tools are secure to avoid data transfer or data leaks. The ideal is to opt for office solutions that host your data on French or European territory in order to avoid them being subject to Cloud Act. Most platforms also offer encryption for your documents, making them indecipherable to people who don't have the key to decrypt them.
8. Accessibility with or without an Internet connection
Finally, it is essential to be able to work on a document both online and offline, especially if your employees are regularly on the go and do not always have access to the Internet. Your collaborative office suite should also be usable on any device (tablet, smartphone and computer) for greater ease and mobility.
Customizable, secure, easy to access, etc., you now know the essential functionalities of a collaborative office suite. It's up to you to choose the one that fits your needs.
