Does the prospect of choosing a collaboration platform seem overwhelming to you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many people wonder, with so many options on the market, where do you start?

1. Understand Business Objectives.

First, we suggest you take a step back and look at what problem you’re trying to solve, or what business objective you’re trying to meet. Are you:

• Trying to help the sales team sell?
• Increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns?
• Improve team collaboration and productivity?

Understanding your objective will help you know what features and functionality are required vs nice to have. 

2. Don't Get Caught Up in the Hype.

When, you hear your neighbor raving about the latest collaboration tool he’s using and feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon, wait, not so fast! Just because its right for your neighbor, doesn't mean its right for your business.

3. Take it For a Test Drive.

Consider a pilot and choose the tool that users love. If a small user group is passionate about a tool, they’ll be more likely to encourage the rest of their team to use it … and their enthusiasm will likely make them more productive.

4. Understand the TCO. 

Be crystal clear on Total Cost of Ownership.  In other words, take a holistic approach and look at the impacts on your entire organization. What infrastructure is needed to support a new suite or set of tools? Does your network have the required bandwidth? What will IT and end-user support cost? What will deployment cost, and will user training be required? Check out our recent blog on Networking, for more on this topic.

5. Be Security Smart.

Lastly, investigate the security features, particularly with respect to options and admin controls. For example, do your chats and video calls offer end-to-end encryption? What about Multi-factor Authentication?  These are too important to overlook.

A lack of security could lead to someone ‘bombing’ your video calls, or an outsider posting inappropriate messages to your Team chat.  And what about provisioning and deprovisioning of users? Don’t you want to be able to on-board new employees quickly, and more importantly, turn off access when employees leave. For more, read our blog  Unlocking the Value of Teams | A Closer Look at MFA.       

To streamline your decision-making process, we developed a Collaboration Platform Comparison Guide. Take a look at our feature by feature assessment.  We bet some things will surprise you. 

Still have questions? Send us an email and we'll have one of our collaboration experts help you out.