Large IT teams and purpose-built collaboration software
The collaboration software products described for small and medium IT teams have something in common. They are all part of products offering additional project management or work management functionality. When IT teams grow large or very large however, there is justification for a purpose-built application or add-on module that focuses exclusively on team collaboration.
Collaborate with Confluence to get IT team members involved in decisions
Confluence from Atlassian, the company that also makes the JIRA project management application, is an example. Confluence centralises information for the team for improved sharing and collaboration. It also offers functionality for project reporting, requirements definition and general IT development, maintenance or support project discussion. Confluence integrates with JIRA, as you would expect. The two products together then offer industrial strength collaboration and project management for IT team activities and agile development cycles in particular.
Other collaboration options for the larger IT team include LeanKit and Mavenlink.
LeanKit has been designed for highly organized, visually-oriented team management and collaboration. It offers the Kanban system of tracking workflow with on-screen task-cards and swim lanes' to show team member activities. Teams can access and interact with the application from different locations and devices for IT project and process collaboration.
Mavenlink by comparison offers IT teams collaboration within the context of professional services automation (PSA). The application provides team collaboration, file sharing and cross-project task management, together with functionality to account and bill for IT team time and results handy for IT teams that want to run as a profit center and invoice either internal or external customers.
Pricing: Confluence pricing for 10 users is $10 - $30/month depending on functionality. Mavenlink starts at $4 per user/month and Leankit has a free offer for up to 10 users or pricing from $15 per user/month.
Which collaboration tool is right for you?
Find out by taking advantage of the free trials of collaboration software available via GetApp. Remember also that IT team size is just one factor, and that specialization and work habits should be taken into account too.
