According to Marc-Alexis Remond, director for marketing & business development for North East Asia at Alcatel Asia Pacific, "collaboration means operating more quickly and efficiently across the entire interaction and decision-making chain."

He advocates the use of web, audio and video conferencing as well as data sharing as a suite of integrated communications tools to enable more timely and better interaction among staff, partners, customers and suppliers.

"In a global business environment, the cost benefits of such rapid online interactivity are becoming business critical," he said.

The emergence of "presence" technology, already exhibited by IM tools, is making communications suites more relevant in collaboration initiatives as it enables users to assess in real-time the availability of people.

Remond notes that knowing when to contact a person and via what medium can potentially reduce wasted time in people waiting for replies or leaving voicemail and email reminders.