Tools to Build community & trust
Collaboration Diagnostics
These tools help partners assess the health of their current collaboratives.
Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory
FREEbeginner
The Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory is “a free online collaboration assessment. This tool will help you assess how your collaboration is doing on 20 research-tested success factors. When you complete this inventory, you will receive summary scores for each of these factors.
Visit siteCommunications & Meetings
These tools cover the gamut of online communication technologies—chat, conference calls, video calls, webinars, virtual meeting spaces, and blogs.
Conceptboard
FEEintermediate
“With its instant whiteboards, Conceptboard provides a central platform to communicate with your team, clients and suppliers by reducing misunderstands and your email amount. Feedback on visual content is as easy as with pen and paper, but there is support for tasks, reports and lots more. Conceptboard simplifies and improves collaboration on visual content and accelerates collaboration processes within your team. You save your budget for advancing in your projects instead of paying travel expenses and project delays.”
Visit siteGlobalMeet
FREEMIUMbeginner
iMeet is a cloud-based web conferencing tool with a host of features including the ability to meet with up to 125 people, HD video chat with 15 people, and cloud-based file storage. iMeet allows you to record meetings to share afterwards and offers social network integration to connect with friends and coworkers. You can host or attend a meeting with any device without the need for a dial-in number or passcode.
Visit siteooVoo
FREEMIUMbeginner
ooVoo is a video chat and instant messaging app for desktop, mobile, tablets and Facebook, allowing group video chat with up to 12 people with multi-stream and high definition video calls. ooVoo users can also make free voice calls and send instant messages to other ooVoo users. In addition to its normal video chat functions, ooVoo offers some great add-on tools like the ability to send files, share your screen, and add YouTube videos to your conversations.
Visit siteReady Talk
FEEbeginner
ReadyTalk is an audio and web conference platform designed to handle everything from a small virtual meeting to hosting a large webinar. ReadyTalk is fee-based and provides several different plans to suit individual needs. In addition to web and video conferencing, ReadyTalk offers a suite of mobile conferencing apps to allow you to participate with online meetings and webinars on the go.
Visit siteComprehensive Collaboration Workspaces
These tools combine many basic tools (file sharing, calendar sharing, member profiles, communications, wikis, etc.) into more multifaceted, all-in-one solutions.
BoardWorks
FEEbeginner
"BoardWorks provides your corporate secretary, corporate counsel, CEO and other authorized users with an online portal to create, distribute and manage your board materials via web browser or iPad. The new BoardWorks makes it easy for directors to stay connected to the boardroom, wherever they might be."
Visit siteChatter
FREEMIUMintermediate
“Salesforce Chatter makes business processes social, so you can collaborate in real time—in context—from anywhere…. Chatter makes it easy to share ideas, documents, and anything else with your coworkers, instantly.” Chatter features include: “file sharing, profiles, status updates, activity feeds, workflow approvals, groups, Chatter communities, Chatterbox, social intelligence, Chatter messenger, Chatter desktop, Chatter mobile, Chatter for Sharepoint, contacts, dashboards, reports, answers and ideas, calendars and events, tasks and activities.”
CiviCRM
FREEintermediate
"CiviCRM is web-based, open source, Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) software geared toward meeting the needs of non-profit and other civic-sector organizations. As a non profit committed to the public good itself, CiviCRM understands that forging and growing strong relationships with constituents is about more than collecting and tracking constituent data - it is about sustaining relationships with supporters over time. To this end, CiviCRM has created a robust web-based, open source, highly customizable, CRM to meet organizations’ highest expectations right out-of-the box. Unlike proprietary software, each new release of this open source software reflects the very real needs of its users as enhancements are continually given back to the community. With CiviCRM's robust feature set, organizations can further their mission through contact management, fundraising, event management, member management, mass e-mail marketing, peer-to-peer campaigns, case management, and much more."
Visit siteHuddle
FREEMIUMintermediate
Huddle lets you “store, share, and work on files with anyone inside and outside your organization—from your desktop, iPad, or smartphone.” It allows you to “share files across the firewall with your colleagues and partners… comment, assign and assign tasks and approvals—all in one central location—to get work done efficiently and effectively)… and [to create] user profiles [that] allow you to connect with the specific people you need to contribute to your project.”
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KARL
FREEMIUMadvanced
“KARL is an open source web system for collaboration, organizational intranets, and knowledge management. KARL is simple to use and enables small and large groups to create communities and to share information… Top features include: topic-based communities, powerful search, secured external collaboration, rich text wiki, collaborative blog, layered group calendar, strong email integration, and outstanding security.”
NetSuite
FEEadvanced
NetSuite is "one integrated, cloud application to manage your entire organization. With NetSuite's unified business management solution, nonprofit organizations can manage their entire end-to-end operations with a single, flexible, and powerful business application—integrating accounting, fundraising, constituent relationship management (CRM), financials and enterprise resource planning (ERP), inventory management, Ecommerce and more."
Visit siteSocialtext
FEEadvanced
“By simplifying people’s ability to share knowledge, ideas and corporate data, Socialtext removes silos and corporate barriers that have traditionally hampered companies’ ability to respond to change and better serve customers. Socialtext’s enterprise social networking products — including microblogging, blogs, wikis, profiles, and social spreadsheets — provide simpler ways for employees to share vital information and work together in real-time. Delivered in a variety of hosted cloud services, as well as on-site appliances, enterprise customers are provided with flexible deployment options that meet their security requirements.”
ThoughtFarmer
FEEadvanced
“ThoughtFarmer combines traditional intranets with social features to make the social intranet: an easy yet powerful platform for employee communication and collaboration…. Communication features include: news, personal homepage, branding, mobile internet access, photo galleries, calendars, employee directory, navigation, manuals, search, and tags. Collaboration features include: wikis, blogs, forums, groups, documents, direct document editing, expertise locator, and discussion capture. Employee engagement features include: forums, comments, profiles, relationship browser, activity stream, favorites, like, revision history, and notifications.”
Content Management Systems
These tools help web developers to build feature-rich websites that enable user editing.
Expression Engine
FREEMIUMintermediate
Expression Engine is a feature-rich content management system (CMS) with a comprehensive set of publishing features. Expression Engine includes a template engine to build dynamic, content driven websites and comes with 22 add-on modules and over 100 plugins.
Visit siteData Aggregation, Sharing, & Standards
These tools help people compile, standardize, and share information.
Zoho CRM
FEEintermediate
“Zoho CRM gives you a 360-degree view of your complete sales cycle and pipeline. Identify trends, spot opportunities, increase efficiency and reduce costs with the right answers, right now. Sync Google emails and other information with Zoho CRM. Collaborate and share information easily with Zoho CRM for Google Apps.”
Visit siteFile Sharing & Collaborative Writing
These tools make it easy for many people to share and edit documents.
Alfresco
FREEMIUMintermediate
“Alfresco is an enterprise content platform that you can use in the cloud or behind your firewall. It helps you store and share the documents that every business depends on. Alfresco is built for the portability of the tablet and the power of the cloud. Today’s companies are more mobile and more collaborative than ever. Now you can work anywhere, with anyone, on any device—all connected by the cloud. In other words, Alfresco makes sure you have your content wherever you are.”
Visit siteOnehub
FEEbeginner
“Onehub was founded in 2007 with a simple idea – provide businesses with easy, secure tools to share data with confidence. Cloud services are changing the way people work, connect and share. We help businesses securely share and control files in the cloud.”
Visit siteInnovation Management
These tools support group brainstorming and innovation.
IdeaScale
FEEbeginner
“IdeaScale is an easy-to-use, yet powerful solution for the collection of feedback and ideas.” It helps users, “empower innovation, bring[ing] out the best ideas from your customers and stakeholders by giving them a platform to share, vote, and discuss feedback. How it works: users submit ideas… others vote on those ideas… and the best ideas bubble up. This process allows you to get feedback from your loyal constituents, understand those constituents, solve problems, and steer innovation by knowing what your community really wants.”
Visit siteJoint Decision Making
These tools allow many people to easily weigh in on group decisions.
VoteIt
FREEMIUMintermediate
“VoteIt is a revolutionary platform for discussions, debates, and decision-making. It organizes inputs and provides clarity on where consensus lies. VoteIt provides a flexible, social platform for individuals and groups.”
Visit siteProject Management
These tools help manage collaborative projects and keep group members informed about roles, responsibilities, and timelines.
Accutask
FEEbeginner
"AccuTask gives you the project management, CRM & processes in one place to handle clients with multiple projects & tasks. Save time, get stuff done easily!"
Visit siteMicrosoft Project Online
FEEintermediate
Microsoft Project Online with Project Pro for Office 365 is a flexible online solution for project portfolio management and everyday work.” Features include the ability to: “add teams and projects within minutes with a web-based portal; keep your teams organized in one location—their project site—where they can view project summaries, documents, tasks, newsfeeds, and calendars; easily share and curate what teams are talking about and working on by following people, sites, tags, and documents with newsfeeds; promote visibility with collaborative tools to seamlessly flow calendar, presence, and capacity information across your organization; and collaborate with your team quickly by dragging and dropping them into a Lync meeting for group conferencing, instant messaging, screen sharing, and shared workspaces.”
Visit siteOpen Atrium
FREEbeginner
"Open Atrium is open source collaboration software that enables organizations to securely connect their teams, projects, and knowledge. A powerful solution, Open Atrium’s framework allows your organization to easily integrate your existing software, while remaining flexible enough to change as your organization grows. With Open Atrium, you can better communicate, educate, and inform your organization by creating solutions such as an intranet, social collaboration platform, web portal, or learning management system."
Visit siteSlate CRM
FEEbeginner
"SlateCRM let's you quickly store, track and retrieve all information for you to get things done. SlateCRM is designed to address the information overload facing every business and office worker today. It's Simple Powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM)."
Visit siteSocial Networking & Online Community
These tools connect people to others with whom they have something in common.
beginner
“Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.” Facebook is an online social networking platform, with features that include: user profiles; ‘friending”; news feeds with updates about friends and events; timeline (your collection of photos, stories, and experiences that tell your story); groups; messaging; chat; video calling; and sharing of likes, interests, and events.
Visit sitebeginner
LinkedIn is “the world's largest professional network with 225 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the globe.” The website can help you: “establish your professional profile; build and maintain a broader network of professionals you can trust; find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates; learn about other companies; leverage powerful tools to find and reach the people you need; tap into the knowledge of your network; and discover new opportunities."
Visit siteYammer
FREEMIUMbeginner
“Yammer brings the power of social networking to your company. Yammer is as easy to use as great consumer software like Facebook and Twitter, but is designed for company collaboration, file sharing, knowledge exchange, and team efficiency.” With Yammer you can: “create, discuss, and share content with coworkers without sending a single email; store large files, post documents to team workspaces, and collaboratively edit pages in real time; find the content, conversations, people and business data you need, when you need them; search instantly across your entire company and all your other business applications; and connect and collaborate with external customers, vendors and business partners.”
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