Innovation is one of the pinnacles of good business practice. However, there are times where innovation isn’t a process that can be achieved by one person alone. Some of the best ideas and techniques that your business might achieve could be by innovation through collaboration.
Businesses will have understood the impact and importance of internal collaboration between team members. Many businesses may have already put into place tools to help promote internal collaboration. However, what exactly does effective business collaboration look like?
Business collaboration is leveraging internal and external connections to generate ideas, find solutions, and achieve common goals for your business.
Businesses are already seeing the benefits of remote collaboration within their teams. Remote Collaboration is saving time and increasing productivity.
Your Employees and team members through collaboration with other businesses may also find learning opportunities. Collaborating could benefit employees, with additional knowledge and skillsets gained throughout the process.
Even with many restrictions remaining in place that limits travel on both domestic and international scales, businesses can confer with remote workers and businesses through the assistance of digital technologies, thus enabling collaborative efforts to continue.
Remote Innovation Through Collaboration
As restrictions ease and businesses can engage with one another once again in face-to-face settings. Businesses can use remote collaboration tools to facilitate inter-business collaboration from the ease of anywhere.
These include:
- Instant messaging – allows for quick online communication for day-to-day business with the teams involved.
- Video conferencing – replicating face-to-face contact without the need to travel into the office or to a meeting space.
- Online workspaces – communicating, collaborating, and sharing ideas in one online space, without the need to be in the same room or even area.
- Cloud sharing – cloud tools offer functionalities for collaborating on files, tasks, projects, and calendars in real-time in one accessible, shared online space.
These tools allow businesses to work uninterrupted with individuals, clients and other businesses. Distance is no longer a major inhibiting factor for Businesses that can now conduct operations away from the site. It can also potentially promote global interconnectedness for the business, as collaboration does not have to occur locally or domestically.
Your business might not collaborate with other businesses precisely the same way as a business in the same industry. It’s essential to know the suitable form of collaboration for your business to benefit from it – and doing that will depend on what you may want to get out of it and how long you may want it to last.
Alliance
An alliance is the traditional type of business collaboration, usually involving two or three companies temporarily working together. They can reach a common goal by combining their resources and knowledge, which can be effective for businesses with knowledge/resource gaps that another business could temporarily fill.
Co-Opetition
Competitors can be great collaborators if used appropriately. Co-opettion involves collaborating with competitors so that businesses can share resources, avoid duplication of their work and generate new customers for all parties involved.
Portfolio
Portfolio Collaboration is when one large business manages a broad collaboration with multiple smaller, external partners. The main central business sets the rules for the collaboration. It offers many benefits of an alliance but in a long-term form that generates more connections between businesses.
Community
Simply put, community collaboration uses one of the most significant resources that a business may have at its disposal – the community. Essentially, businesses collaborate with individuals or other businesses that are within their community. Businesses can collaborate via the business community (e.g. local business partnerships) AND the customer community (e.g. social media influencers).
Network
If a business knows of other businesses with similar goals and values that they want to uphold, they may instigate network collaboration. This style of collaboration means that the businesses may not necessarily compete with one another but, with shared interests, can collaborate on mutually beneficial projects with access to one another’s resources and customer base.
Your business may choose to collaborate with other businesses through:
- A wiki can be used to share knowledge, improve training, and contribute to strong company culture.
- Cross-promoting, where the businesses promote one another on various platforms. Cross-promoting could be done through social media, running partnered promotions, or even by getting creative with guest posts on websites or a shared podcast.
- Running a networking event to find new clients and potential future collaborators can be conducted online or in person.
- Community events can be a great way to connect your business with potential customers and collaborators. Running it with another local business is an effective way to put yourself out there and foster connections that could lead to long-term partnerships.
The rapidly changing and digitally-inclined business world means that businesses that don’t prioritise collaboration – both internally and externally – are likely to fall behind. Digital solutions can help streamline collaboration, benefiting all involved.
If you are looking for advice on how to structure these collaborations or work out the best way to get involved with other businesses, you can plan your way forward with our help. Start a conversation with us today.
