by: Mike Nielsen
If you are in a business that passes documents around to be reviewed and edited over and over before they are ready to be posted for advertising or for a client, then you have probably already heard of a software solution to help keep your “floating” documents organized from Groove Network. You may not be aware that there is another option out there. In this article you will be presented with some basic information about the differences in collaboration software from Groove Network and NextPage.
Idea behind collaboration software.
The central idea behind having collaboration software is that it allows business professionals to work directly with other business professionals by allowing them to work together to create business documents, presentations, and budgets. Most collaboration software is centralized. This allows business professionals to work on the same documents at the same time from different locations. Some centralized collaboration software solutions include Groove Network, Microsoft SharePoint, Documentum, and Filenet.
Groove Network Advantages.
There are a few advantages to using centralized collaboration software such as Groove Network. The main advantage being that they work very well for team collaboration. Groove Network’s software keeps all files, projects, and data in one centralized location that everyone who is working on the project can access. This allows them to review and update the same document that everyone else has used, which essentially keeps everyone working on the same page.
Drawbacks to Groove Network.
While the collaboration software solution provided by Groove Network is very useful and beneficial, there are a few drawbacks to using it. The main disadvantage being that Groove Network’s software requires the use of an IT infrastructure. Another potential drawback is that it requires an extensive amount of installation time. Other collaboration software options out there also require everyone you work with to have the same software in order to share information. All of these drawbacks to centralized collaboration software can be very expensive and inconvenient.
Are there any other options?
An alternative solution to the centralized collaboration software is NextPage. NextPage 1.5 Collaboration Software tracks documents with Digital Thread technology. Say, for instance, that you are working on your company’s budget. You want to make sure that your facts and figures are correct so you send your spreadsheet to several of your co-workers for review. They look over the spreadsheet and make the necessary changes. They then return their spreadsheet version to you, and with NextPage 1.5, you simply merge the document versions together into one. NextPage 1.5 lets you see all of this visually via a graphical version history. With the graphical version history, you would always know where the various versions of your spreadsheet are stored, what changes have been made, who has reviewed your spreadsheet, when the revisions were made, and how the revisions fit together. NextPage makes it easy to see where the document has been and what revisions have been made.
So what are the major advantages of using NextPage?
The major advantages to using NextPage’s collaboration software include the following:
In conclusion, if you are in a business that could greatly benefit from using collaboration software, look at and evaluate the possible software options out there and see which one will be of the most benefit to you in your company. I have presented a few ideas for you to think about and get you started in your decision. So get out there and organize your document management!