75% of businesses to use social collaboration tools in 2013 [infographic]

The rising tide of online collaboration is highlighted by a new infographic. But why are businesses finally turning to online collaboration tools? Most businesses know that online social collaboration tools can form part of the solution to inefficient working practices, but they’ve been around for ages and, for various hotly discussed reasons, never seem to have caught on.

Until, now, it seems

According to a recent McKinsey Report office workers spend an average of 28 hours a week writing emails, searching for information and collaborating internally.

Apparently, most of us prefer to use email rather than actually speak to a colleague, resulting in companies like Debenhams having to store 13.8 million new emails a month – a figure that’s increasing 20% year on year for the retailer.

Clinked.com, a UK-based business collaboration start-up, has just published an infographic (below) which states that 75% of businesses say online collaboration tools will be “important” or “somewhat important” to their business during the next 12 months.

Clinked’s founder, Tayfun Bilsel, says his team has noticed a shift in attitudes during 2012:

We used to spend half our time educating clients about the benefits of social collaboration. These days, businesses are approaching us with clearly defined strategies for reducing overheads and connecting remote working teams. The market has grown up.

These sentiments echo those of Aaron Levie, CEO of Box.com, who described how start-ups offering freemium, cloud-based solutions that also work across mobile have “exploded the size of the [enterprise collaboration] market”.

See on econsultancy.com

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