Relatively recent advances in modern technology allow multiple users, often in different locations, to work on a project simultaneously.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines these two words as follows. Collaboration means ‘the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing’, while co-author means ‘one of two or more people who write a book, article, report, etc. together’.
In the field of ICT, teams or colleagues working together on projects or standalone activities, using various technologies, software and applications, is known as collaboration. Co-authoring is a pretty similar term. It means almost the same thing but is more of a niche area within a collaboration.
Over the years, Microsoft has launched many collaboration platforms. These have typically been tools where team members can store their documents, lists, and written thoughts with other team members. SharePoint is a good example of this.
These tools have developed to better enable team members to work collaboratively, but there has always been a problem with multiple people editing the same document at the same time. Co-authoring is how Microsoft describe this capability – the ability in real time for more than one person to be making changes to the same document.
Virtually any project you collaborate on will have an aspect of co-authorship. It’s simply about joint responsibility for writing (authoring) a piece of work.
Microsoft 365 is one of a few widely available tools that can be used for collaboration and co-authorship. Using it effectively can speed up your business, church, or charity’s efficiency, and so it might well worth be looking into more closely.
Why do charities need a digital strategy?
In today’s global, consumer-driven economy, digital technology is coming more to the fore.
Many businesses and organisations simply wouldn’t be able to exist were it not for technology, which makes it crucial for charities to not get left behind.
A digital strategy is all about defining your charity’s aims and objectives and then looking at the digital technologies, services and products you need to achieve those goals.
There may be many reasons why your charity needs to invest in technology, from improving operational efficiency and communication to providing better services to users and engaging with supporters or volunteers more effectively.
Once you’ve defined what impact you hope to achieve, your digital strategy should be aligned to those goals to make them happen.
Some of the things you’ll need to consider when creating a digital strategy for your charity include:
- What do you want to achieve by going digital?
- How can digital technology help improve your processes or operations?
- How much budget will you need to achieve your digital transformation objectives?
- What resources or expertise do you need to bring your strategy to fruition?
- How are you going to monitor progress, performance and success?
How Microsoft 365 enables better collaboration
Microsoft 365’s applications enable collaboration through a wide range of features, including:
Sharing – before another user can collaborate with you or co-author a document, you’ll need to share it with them. On Microsoft 365, this is very simple. Click Share and edit the privacy settings. You can then email a link to fellow employees or others outside your organisation.
Co-authoring – after sharing a link, others can collaborate in real-time (see below) on popular programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You’ll be able to see who currently has access to the document and whether anyone is editing it at that moment. A presence marker shows what they’re doing, and any changes show up immediately.
Comments – another crucial aspect to collaboration and co-authoring is comments. Highlight an area you’d like to place a comment and type your notes. You could also use the ‘@’ key to mention a person or persons specifically.
Video conferencing – Teams is Microsoft’s advanced video conferencing tool (among other things). This can allow multiple people to work on projects while discussing what they’re doing at the same time.
Instant messaging/chat – Teams comes with ever-more useful features like instant messaging/chat functionality, ‘share content’ (sharing your screen) and ‘breakout rooms’ with many other video and audio settings to increase productivity. It also allows you to post updates and check team members’ progress.
Shared calendars – Project managers and colleagues can quickly keep track of each other’s commitments, as well as create appointments and events, organise meetings, view group schedules and view calendars side-by-side with shared calendar functionality.
Whiteboard – this feature allows anyone on Teams to add information to be discussed, analysed or otherwise considered.
Mobile – the Microsoft 365 mobile app combines Word, Excel and PowerPoint into one convenient location, meaning you can work on all three programs on the go.
Using these collaboration tools correctly can help your people to completes tasks more efficiently and effectively, furthering your operational goals.
What is real-time collaboration?
Real-time collaboration, in simple terms, is to work on a project with at least one other person at the same time. Updates you – or anyone else – make to the document are immediately added to the online version, meaning you can all see the changes in ‘real-time’.
A video conference on Teams is an example of real-time collaboration. Workers, managers, directors, and other stakeholders can all communicate, with information passing from person to person straight away.
For more examples of real-time collaboration, check the previous section.
Collaboration and co-authoring best practice
The main advantage of real-time collaboration and co-authoring is the time it saves.
Not too long ago, all documents had to be typed out and physically transferred or posted to another team member for review. After analysing it, it would then return to the original author for edits – and so on and so forth.
In the past 20 years, the increased popularity of emails drastically reduced how long it took to transfer the document. However, it still only allowed one person to work on it at any given time. This meant that if there were any delays – for example if an editor was ill – it would bring the entire process to a halt.
With real-time collaboration, information can be added, edits suggested, grammar corrected (and so on) at any time and any place. There’s no need to wait for another team member to finish their production stage because you can all work around each other simultaneously.
You can use the ‘track changes’ feature when sharing a document you wrote for others to comment on so you can easily see what changes they have made.
When writing comments on someone else’s document, make sure you check that they will understand what you have written not just you.
And if you are editing a document in the desktop application of word rather than online make sure that in the ‘Trust Center’ privacy settings you have unticked ‘Remove personal information from file properties on save’ – otherwise when you save the document you will remove all traces of who made which comments.
What’s more, the online accessibility of programs like Microsoft 365 can mean that even people physically absent from work due to minor issues – for example, if they’ve been told to isolate due to contact with a Covid-positive friend – can continue to be productive with minimal disruption.
It really does go an awful long way to cut out delays in your organisation’s processes.
How can AMDH Services help?
At AMDH Services Ltd, we pride ourselves on helping you and your business, church or charity make the most of Microsoft 365.
Its online collaboration and co-authorship properties make it ideal for fuelling productivity, driving costs down and increasing profits.
Even if you’re unsure whether this software is right for you, please feel free to get in touch anyway! We’d love to have an informal chat about what your organisation needs and whether we think Microsoft 365 would be beneficial to you or not.
It is, of course, obligation-free, and we’ll leave it up to you as to whether you’d like to proceed.
As an official Microsoft Partner, we’re experienced and qualified to set Microsoft 365 up for businesses, explicitly tailoring its structure to you.
To get in touch with us or for more information, drop us an email at info@amdhservicesltd.com or give us a call at 01332 322 588.
