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 Cisco recently conducted a study segmenting online collaboration users. This is the first study of this nature. Their objective was to understand how workers choose to collaborate, which tools they use, and how they believe those tools positively affect productivity, innovation, and cost savings. This study comes against the backdrop of wide adoption of online collaboration software and other collaboration technologies like web conferencing, wikis, blogs by both small and large organizations. The survey studied 800 people in U.S. medium-sized and enterprise organizations who qualified on the following counts - spend at least 20 % of their time at work using a network-connected computer; use a mobile device; and participated in two collaborative activities within the past month. Companies can use the results of this study to improve adoption of and maximize ROI on online collaboration tools.  The study resulted in four segments, which are self explanatory -  Collaboration Enthusiasts, Comfortable Collaborators, Reluctant Collaborators, and Collaboration Laggards. Other learnings are as follows:- Employee Attitudes - Employees regard collaboration as influencing success: found critical or important by the vast majority of respondents, productivity is the biggest perceived benefit: valued more than innovation in all segments Usefulness of Collaboration - Collaboration is useful in organizations of all sizes: and equally successful Organizational Culture - Recognize that attitudes and organizational culture regarding collaboration are as important as collaboration tools. Planned Roll out - Begin by introducing collaboration tools to people and groups meeting the characteristics of Enthusiasts and Comfortable Collaborators. These people tend to be managers or supervisors, have held their job position for 3 to 10 years, and are already using Web 2.0 tools at home. Executive Involvement - Encourage executives to model the desired collaboration practices. Reward Collaboration - Reward collaboration by including it in performance reviews, offering rewards for successful outcomes, or both. Formal Processes - Implement formal collaboration processes. Provide the tools, IT support, and training needed to foster increased collaboration.
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