During 2014 we have seen a huge increase in demand for Clinked, but also, interestingly in understanding of the benefits that collaborative working brings. We probably used to spend around half our time educating potential 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.

To demonstrate this, we've created a simple infographic (below) which offers a snapshot of the growing need for social collaboration and online collaboration tools, as well as the benefits that organisations are experiencing.

The State of Online Collaboration Tools for Business

75% of businesses say that collaboration tools will be important to their business during 2012/13 and this figure rises to 86% when you look at a 3 year forecast. That’s an incredible statistic, and one we've pinned to the top of our notice-board here at Clinked Central.

So why is this? What’s changed? Well, the simple fact is, people are becoming accustomed to using social platforms. 7 out of 10 of us are using social networks regularly and we've become accustomed to sharing news and photos with friends and family online. Business collaboration is simply the next logical step.

There’s also a growing acceptance that old working styles just don’t cut it any more. 96% of business execs cite a “lack of collaboration” or “ineffective communication” for workplace failures. The average office worker checks their email 36 times an hour (36 times!) and sends or receives 15 emails with attachments every day. This leads to wasted time, miscommunications and lost documents. In fact, employees spend an average of 9 hours a week searching on their PCs for information.

There are also some sociological changes going on. Lifestyle changes mean that by 2015 it's expected that nearly 40% of staff will work remotely. Having effective mobile working tools in place is obviously essential to any remote set-up.

So the big question is: how do online collaboration tools like Clinked help?

Our experience, and that of our competitors, is absolutely unequivocal: 97% of businesses using collaboration software have reported being able to service more clients more efficiently. But the biggest benefits are internal: enterprise social networking has been shown to reduce email volume by 30% and increase team efficiency by 15-20%. Research also indicates that teams draft documents 33% faster using a shared document management tool.

File sharing and document storage is also a major benefit. 74% of businesses using collaboration software report faster access to knowledge. All that time previously spent searching for the right documents can be put into improving the bottom line. It’s a no-brainer.

This obviously isn’t news to us, but we’re finding it really refreshing to see the facts laid out in such an easy-to-digest format. We hope you do too. Please feel free to share the infographic and add your experiences as comments.