PGi Launches Approach to Helping Global Enterprises Maximize Return on Collaboration

PGi, through its global collaboration services team, has launched OPTIC (Optimize Performance Through Integrated Collaboration), a unique collaboration assessment designed to help enterprises get the most out of working together.

Officials with PGi said that 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 connects people and organizations for nearly 20 years, PGi understands that measuring a global enterprise’s collaborative horsepower remains elusive.

Company officials said that 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.

“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.

He said that 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,” said Hansen, who helped design OPTIC.

He said that 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.

“PGi’s new collaboration assessment approach provides valuable insight and practical recommendations for organizations to drive results by leveraging the right mix of collaboration,” said Hansen.

J. Scott Tapp, executive vice president of sales and marketing for PGi Technology said that advancements, generational shifts and social networking tools are changing how, when and why people get together.

“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,” said Tapp.

According to company officials, 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.

He said that the insight and recommendations that result will help enterprises earn the highest possible return on their collaboration dollar.