PGi Launches New Approach To Helping Global Enterprises Maximize Return On Collaboration

ATLANTA (BUSINESS WIRE) In today's business climate - where global enterprises favor business unit autonomy in hopes of working effectively across a flattening world and fostering cultures of entrepreneurship - organizations are increasingly balancing a shift toward decentralization with the resulting need for effective collaboration across geographic regions and information silos.

Successful global executives know that the answer to achieving this balance is not simply the result of scheduling more meetings. It's about working together in a strategic, universal and disciplined fashion to achieve better results.

That's why PGi, through its Global Collaboration Services team, today launched OPTIC (Optimize Performance Through Integrated Collaboration), a unique collaboration assessment designed to help enterprises get the most out of working together, at Forrester's Content and Collaboration Forum 2010. OPTIC's ground-breaking approach measures a company's current state of collaboration and provides actionable recommendations for removing barriers and developing a roadmap for optimized business performance through successful collaboration.

As a global meetings and collaboration company that has connected people and organizations for nearly 20 years, PGi understands that measuring a global enterprise's collaborative horsepower remains elusive. Partnering with collaboration and corporate transformation expert Morten Hansen, Ph.D., an information management professor at University of California, Berkeley, PGi is bringing a much needed strategic approach to gathering valuable insights that will drive improvements and ultimately a measurable return on collaboration (ROC).

"In 15 years of researching how global companies collaborate, measuring how well they're doing and how they can improve, it's clear that this type of critical assessment has been an educated guess," said Hansen. "Enterprises fail to take the holistic view that is necessary to effectively work together across geographic borders and corporate silos. As a result, many end up wasting resources on ineffective technology, inadequate compensation systems and time wasted on over-collaboration.""Businesses create vast ecosystems, so they need to learn how to share not only among employees but also among customers and vendors. They must do this in a way that provides a real dollar value for time spent on collaboration," continued Hansen, who helped design OPTIC. "PGi's new collaboration assessment approach provides valuable insight and practical recommendations for organizations to drive results by leveraging the right mix of collaboration."

Chief information officers have high expectations of collaboration management and collaborative innovation, and they expect use of collaboration tools - like video conferencing, web conferencing and social media platforms - to increase significantly over the next five years, according to a 2010 survey by KPMG International.

"Technology advancements, generational shifts and social networking tools are changing how, when and why people get together," said J. Scott Tapp, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing for PGi. "A fundamental question remains whether an organization's method of collaborating is helping them get to market faster and more efficiently, thus ultimately accelerating their business goals."

A PGi Global Collaboration Services consultant will guide an organization's key functional executives through the OPTIC research and analysis process, working with experts in areas like information technology, human resources, sales and product development.

The OPTIC results will include technology recommendations and other tailored solutions--such as technology adoption, networking, human resources systems and corporate goals and strategy--that encourage the unencumbered exchange of ideas and expertise."With OPTIC, PGi enables enterprises to better understand how tools and technology, people and culture, and business transformation impact the way they work together," said Tapp. "The insight and recommendations that result will help enterprises earn the highest possible return on their collaboration dollar."