Communication has always involved certain written and unwritten rules. With face-to-face communication, the importance of turning up and contributing goes without saying. And with phone communication, staying focused on the conversation (rather than, say, browsing the internet) is basic manners. Essentially, when it comes to the etiquette of communication, engagement is key. And this is true for online communication as well.

Increasingly, business leaders are trying to achieve engagement with their staff. But it’s not easy, as engagement is not merely getting together to share opinions or participate in discussions once in a while. It requires your team to participate in an ongoing dialogue.

So, how can you achieve it?

Put simply – you facilitate the communication process so that people in your team can easily communicate, share files, share opinions, and create discussions. By easing the communication process, you enable people to engage. Recently, a number of software and web applications have emerged for this purpose – they are known as collaboration applications.

But you can’t just use any collaboration application; you need a collaboration application that is easily accessible, simple and user-friendly. CORUS not only lets you discuss and share files so that you are always connected, but is accessible on any browser and on any device. CORUS was built to help you achieve true engagement.

Companies have evolved the way they work, and individuals now need the ability to collaborate with other stakeholders whilst on the road or travelling overseas.

In response to this need, virtual collaboration applications were born. These applications bring your team to a central online space, where discussions can be held and files exchanged.

The issue with these applications is that, more often than not, they require a piece of software to be installed on your particular device. This means that in order to collaborate you must have your own device handy, which essentially defeats the whole purpose of mobile collaboration.

To make collaboration truly mobile, you need an application that lets you access everything – your messages, files, tasks, calendar – anywhere via a web browser.

CORUS is exactly that. It is an application for online collaboration that is hosted in the cloud, and is accessible anywhere via the web. This means you don’t need your own device, and can instead jump on any computer (in an internet cafe, at the airport etc) or smart phone, and immediately collaborate. Collaborating while travelling just got a whole lot easier.

Evolution is not just something that occurs with humans. In the past two decades, we have seen the evolution of devices; having progressed from landlines to pagers to mobile phones and, now, smart phones.

As with devices, the way we communicate has also evolved. We are no longer restricted to a desk or an office in order to collaborate effectively.

The same applies to files. Where previously we needed to be in an office to access files (some of us still do), many of us now have the technology to access files remotely while we’re on the go.

Devices have been improved to support this mobility, which allows for easier collaboration.

While this is convenient, it only goes so far. On a smart phone, you may be able to access files stored in your email inbox. But what about files that are not in your inbox, but rather on a physical server?

This is where cloud collaboration comes in. With a cloud collaboration application, you can send and access files from any device that is synced to your server.

CORUS takes cloud collaboration one step further, by being an online application that can be accessed via any device through any web browser. Simply put, Corus enables convenient, truly mobile collaboration.

In this day and age, we enjoy a never-ending supply of technology. Where previously it was a privilege to own a mobile phone, it is now a staple.

As people get more devices and better technology at their fingertips, they use more applications. And, with the recent movement to the cloud, applications are now running without the need for a physical server. As a result, the cost to manage an application is significantly lower than what it was just a decade ago.

This lower management cost has seen a recent jump in the number of tools that enable online collaboration.

This means there is a plethora of choice, and it is up to us to choose the tool that enables us collaborate most efficiently.

An application hosted in the cloud, CORUS is designed for efficient online collaboration. Files, messages, tasks and calendar appointments are all saved on an application that is accessible through a web browser. With CORUS, collaboration is simpler, cheaper and more efficient.

A French author once said, “The only constant in life is change.” Some welcome it, others resist it – regardless, change is inevitable. In a business environment, change may vary from a simple tweak in the email system to a restructuring of the entire business. When change is complex though, it must be managed thoroughly.

The official term for this is, ‘change management’; and it is multi-faceted. First of all, change often comes with risks that must be mitigated. Change usually involves stages of review and approval. The change being made must align with the business priorities or the bigger picture. And, change takes time. Managing change is as complex as being the puppet master of a show involving hundreds of puppets.

Generally, change is managed via meetings, discussions or internal newsletters. The associated tasks are prioritised and assigned to owners. Tasks are performed, reviewed, revised and reviewed once again before being finally implemented. All of this needs to be well managed to ensure smooth sailing.

But when change is complex and requires a significant mental shift, there is likely to be some resistance. In an organisation, employees are likely to tune out and disengage – especially when they’re the ones that need to take action to embrace the change.

Enterprise collaboration applications are purpose built to bring people together around a common subject – like change management.

CORUS is an enterprise collaboration application that makes change management easier by bringing together tasks and task owners in one place. It becomes the hub where the planned change is discussed, prioritised and reviewed. Through Corus, you can have full visibility of the change management process and get your staff involved and on board.

Whilst collaboration technology is relatively new, we’ve always been collaborating. It’s just human nature. Only now is technology finally catching up, with the introduction of tools that allow online collaboration within our work environments.

For many years, we were limited to collaborating face-to-face or via phone. Then, with the internet came email – another tool for collaboration.

Meetings and phone conversations have been quite effective in that they enable real-time discussion. The advantage of email though is that it allows recipients to take some time to digest and prioritise the information received, before contributing.

But, there are negatives to each of these mediums. Meetings and phone conversations put people on the spot. And, in some cases, they can be unnecessarily time consuming. We’ve all been in those situations where someone goes on and on about a topic that should have been resolved a long time ago! Emails also come with a drawback, in that they are essentially a monologue and therefore not always engaging.

What then makes a good collaboration tool?

Essentially, all of the good and none of the bad. It should facilitate an engaging dialogue (rather than monologue). It should provide real-time communication whilst recognising the need for prioritisation. And, finally, it should help us maximise the use of our time.

CORUS is one such online collaboration tool. Discussions occur within topics, so you can add the right people, engage them and get their input. Hosted online, it delivers real-time communication. Users are also able to prioritise items with a helpful tagging feature. And, because it’s simple to use and runs on your desktop, it allows you to make the best possible use of your time.

Essentially, businesses succeed by motivating employees to meet certain goals. To achieve these goals, they need to broken down into tasks, which are then assigned to people across different divisions of the business. In a typical office, we manage not only the tasks related to the business goals, but also divisional and administrative tasks. With so many tasks on the go though, people need to juggle. And to juggle well, task management is critical.

Some do this using to-do lists in a notebook, spreadsheets or their calendar. Essentially, they take it upon themselves to manage their priorities; taking full ownership and seeing them through to completion.

But in a growing business, the tasks associated with achieving the business goals may run into the hundreds. And with tasks assigned to many different people, it’s hard to keep track of each person’s to-do list and the status of each task.

So, how can you manage tasks more efficiently?

You need an effective task management tool that allows you to assign tasks to the right people, invite them to discuss the tasks, and facilitate enterprise collaboration. You need to prioritise each task and make the prioritisation visible to all participants. And, finally, you need the ability to monitor the progress made on each of the tasks.

CORUS is an enterprise collaboration tool built to facilitate smarter task management. It lets you create topics, within which you can add people, add tasks and then assign them to the people involved. The topic then acts as a forum where those involved can collaborate around the tasks in play. And, most importantly, it shows the due dates and messages around each task so you are always up to date on the status of each. CORUS delivers efficient and effective task management to help you achieve your business goals.