Groupware software – brief overview and specific examples

   What is groupware software? Groupware software definition is quite simple. Groupware software is a program designed for multi-user concurrent working. Groupware products promote electronic communications between users, so they can use their individual groupware packages to enter the shared system and exchange their information in common virtual environment. Usually groupware software works through the client-server technology, because this method enables real-time collaboration between users. There a lot of areas where groupware software can be used with a great success, for example significant number of groupware products is intended for sharing certain kinds of information among multiple persons co-working as a team (the definition from groupware software Wikipedia page calls this type of software the “workgroup support systems”). 

If to speak about groupware software comparison, it should be performed between groupware products of the same purpose, because there are very different programs and systems, including groupware packages designed for email management, web conferencing, social communicating, document sharing, calendaring, task management etc. 

First of all, before to make groupware software comparison, you should set a number of requirements that you seek for, because groupware software can be also grouped according to technologies and requirements, for example by OS, like Windows or Linux groupware software, and by the way of distribution and development, like commercial and open source groupware software, as well as by the type of installation and the way of accessing, like desktop-based (installable) or PHP groupware software (also called web-based). While some products were initially designed for multi-user concurrent work, others, like MS Outlook, can be upgraded to work in the groupware regime. In order to establish MS Outlook groupware software regime of working you need to buy and configure additional software – MS Exchange. 

One of the best examples of groupware software is VIP Task Manager that improves communications in the project team in terms of work management. This client-server software is intended for tasks, time and personnel management, for working process scheduling and controlling, and for simple document sharing. This easy-to-use groupware software was initially designed for a workgroup use, so no additional payments and means are required to establish multi-person regime of collaboration – it will take just several minutes to deploy this software over your corporate LAN.