Evolution of Groupware: A Boon for Business in Group Environment

Most business activities are performed in group environment. In business organizations, we find number of groups operating with specific objective for each group and all together contributing in achieving organizational objectives. Each group has its members who have common goals to be achieved through group performance.  To make the group effective, there is a requirement of collaboration and coordination among group members and their activities. Development in IT (Information Technology)has paved the way for better management of business activities. Groupware is a term used to mean the technology that supports group activities. In today’s environment, business cannot be thought of developing without using any kind of automated tool that supports group activities. In present dynamic environment, the successful business organizations are those who are able to identity and utilize effectively the tools provided by IT. Groupware provides tools such as computer conferencing software, meeting systems, co-authoring tools, process coordination tools, communication tools and many other tools that can support activities in group environment. In many business situations, group members are geographically dispersed but they can effectively achieve the group goals if groupware tools are used by the group members. In some situations, members do not have time to respond on some message but the groupware tools can be used to respond later on some message.