Collaboration software, also known as collaborative software or groupware, is the technology designed to facilitate and handle group work to achieve a common goal. Collaboration software may be used by groups to communicate, coordinate, share, cooperate, solve problems, negotiate, or even compete.
Conferencing software can be grouped into two groups by using two dimensions: time and place. With the time dimension, conferencing could be simultaneous (or “realtime” or “synchronous”) or it can be asynchronous (different times). With the place dimension, users are doing work together in one place (also known as “collocated” or “face-to-face”) or in various places (known as “non-colocated” or “distance”)
Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration. Here is what Wikipedia says about these three.
- Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this.
- Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this.
- Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation – but everyone is doing something different – in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: collaborative management.
Here is a website that offers a good description of collaboration software and lists and compares different products on the market.