FINDING 3
E-Mail Is Top Collaboration Tool

Web 2.0 technologies get the attention, but IT executives say other collaboration technologies are more valuable.

Few IT executives rank Web 2.0 technologies—including blogs, RSS, social networks, tagging and wikis—among the most important collaboration technologies. Instead, they place great importance on old standbys such as e-mail and telephony, the most widely used collaboration tools, and a number of other technologies that have been overshadowed by Web 2.0. Shared project management systems, workflow systems, real-time document collaboration tools and knowledge management systems are considered more important than any Web 2.0 technology: They are widely used by project teams and, to a slightly lesser extent, by co-workers engaged in business processes. Prediction markets and recommendation voting systems are used rarely.

IT executives may think other technologies are more important than Web 2.0 tools, but employees clearly feel differently, given how many use them—even when IT organizations don’t provide support. This remains a source of tension between IT managers and users. Adding Web 2.0 features to e-mail could provide a balance.