FINDING 2
Service and Project Teams Are Primary Focus

The top priorities for collaboration investments are linked to the No.1 business priority. Improving customer service ranked first in Ziff Davis Enterprise’s 2008 Top Trends Survey, so it follows that companies invest most heavily in collaboration tools to let customer-facing employees share information.

Project teams also benefit in a big way from investments in project, document and knowledge management systems, and in any tool that helps team members even when they are oceans apart.

Other functions that rely heavily on teamwork—IT organizations and logistics groups at companies that sell tangible goods, for example—also are near the top of the list. However, far fewer companies focus their collaboration investments on corporate planning or new product development—a surprise, considering the importance of these areas for future revenues and strategic development.