Use Case 1 Sarah Atkinson Global Software Company

Location: Aurora, IL Company Type: Software Company Size: 10,000 employees

Goals:

- To build a project for the government to help them track their employees.

Scenario: Mary Atkinson is a project manager for a global software company. The project she is currently leading is to build a program for the government to help them track their employees. The team she leads is in multiple locations around the world so she used presentation screen, methods for expression and communication methods to help his team build a stronger relationship and collaborate better. She provides rich environment definition, defined forms and she reduce some language and also she is thinking to get moderator so that will handle cultural and language barriers. She realized that she needs a system that will permit scheduling with less hassle, so she provided Internet connection in order to support the needs of users in different countries. Because it is a classified project, she needs security and she knows that if users are accessing a web-based tool, then proper authentication needs to be verified, so she through some sort of login portal site or redirection site.

As her team members are from different countries, so she needs some technical flexibility. She recently made the decision that training should be provided by application. Use Case 2 Mary Clauseman Sr. VP of Global Marketing for What’s In a Name, Inc

Location: Chicago, IL Company Type: Start-up Company Size: 5 employees

Goals:

- To find a rich collaborative tool to capture and archive idea generations during brainstorming sessions.

Scenario: What’s In a Name, Inc. is a Chicago-based firm that helps organizations create a successful brand strategy for both well-known brands and emerging brands who need to build an identity. Its goal is to find a fresh way into the minds and homes of its customers, redefine and own the conversation in their industry, and engage people on as many levels as possible.

Mary has a small, yet brilliant, team that works closely in the same office to rattle off ideas, taglines, and illustrations before pitching to clients. Each member brings unique abilities to the group and provides a wide spectrum of ideas. In past brainstorming sessions, Mary had various members scribe as she would facilitate. The result was a mix bag of notes and the failure to capture key points. They recognize the need to find a tool that will allow them to each write or draw their ideas on a virtual chalkboard as well as transfer control between resources to allow the client to be involved in a session.

From Mary’s career experience, she understands the importance of recording capabilities. The company’s belief is that the best product and company name is the result of one or two words. Because the process begins with broad level ideas, capturing the entire narrowing process is critical. Any tool they use needs to allow the group to track ideas during each brainstorming session so they have documentation of any secondary ideas to revert back to or to consider in the future. This will make the team more efficient because all documentation will be in the same location. During the convergence process, the tool should help them archive and group similar naming products, company names, and tagline ideas together for future reference. This is a very valuable feature because it provides the ability to capture every moment of the process which will prevent ideas, thoughts, and comments from being lost. Use Case 3 Alaina Miranda Marketing Solutions Manager Virginia E-Marketing Group

Location: Fairfax, Virginia Company Type: Marketing Company Size: 3000 employees

Goals:

- Find a highly efficient tool that is used to develop creative problem solutions and is useful to bring the experience of all team members into play during problem solving. - Find a collaborative tool designed to help team members involved in a virtual meeting to achieve their goals. Also, it should provide anonymity and survey the legal and societal frameworks surrounding anonymity.

Scenario: Virginia E-Marketing Group is a full-service web design and online marketing firm. It has a team of experts committed to providing excellent design, website marketing campaigns and online reputation management. Their goal is to help clients create, manage and expand their company’s internet presence and overall online marketing.

The key person here is Alaina, Marketing Solutions manager. Two years ago she used to work in the E- Marketing department. During those years she showed an excellent talent and creativity in resolving pop-up problems. Yet, there were no problem communication with the department’s employees until she had been chosen to move forward to Marketing Solutions department. The first issue she faced since then was how to communicate with large group size members located in variety of locations. Also, having issues to resolve in these meetings and some of the company’s clients were two reasons to start searching for collaborative tool providing anonymity.

A virtual collaborative tool should be available to connect between members when a problem is accrued. That will help bringing the experience of all team members into ground, regardless their locations or quantity. In addition, the availability of software designed to help team members involved in a virtual meeting to achieve their goals and protect their anonymity will make communications much easier and efficient. Every team member will only focus on what is the best regardless other’s opinion or any other consequences. Use Case 4 Mary Rose Alexander Marketing Research Consultant of S&D Research

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Company Type: Marketing Research Firm Company Size: 100 employees

Goals: - To find an extensive collaboration program that is able to capture all ideas and feedback from multiple workstations and display them to various hosts. - To find an effective, but silent method of communication to transfer conversations and instructions between herself and her clients during research sessions.

Scenario: Mary Rose Alexander is a research consultant for S&D Research. S&D Research is a marketing research firm that conducts focus group sessions, online surveys, and product studies. It recruits people to participate in research studies at its facilities in Philadelphia as well as online. Several top companies hire consultants from S&D Research to recruit participants that fit the demographic requirements for the study at hand. The clients of S&D Research typically travel to its office in Philadelphia to actively view and note their ongoing study session. However, due to the large sizes of several companies, the need for remote broadcasting and communication capabilities to watch the study sessions from across the country has grown in high demand.

Mary Rose Alexander specializes with conducting and moderating live focus group sessions. Some of her study sessions have housed as many as 20 live respondents that participate with office supplied computer notebooks. She wants to find a technological solution to display each respondent’s notebook onto her workstation where her machine is the master host. During the focus group, the respondents will not only be participating in person, but they will also be submitting questionnaires, presenting opinions, and generating ideas through the computer supplied in front of them. Mary Rose needs all of these responses and ideas to be submitted directly to her master machine.

Since many of Mary Rose’s clients will be viewing the groups from remote locations, she needs the clients to have the capability to remotely connect into her computer to view the active focus group participation. She also needs some sort of direct communication implemented like instant messaging capabilities. The clients may have other questions and comments they want Mary Rose to ask during the session so silent communication methods are key here so it won’t disturb the group. Mary Rose is looking for large-scale collaboration tools to have the focus group respondents provide feedback in new and different ways as well as actively involving her clients across the world wherever they may be.

S&D Research understands the importance of obtaining as much knowledge as possible from the participants as they are ones with all the answers. The firm needs various methods to gain and study the feedback provided by each contributor. S&D Research also realizes the growing costs of travel expenses for research analysts to come and view the focus groups in person. Providing their clients with several viewing and communication options allows viewers from any location to access the live study. Use Case 5 Gary Hester President of Brighter Horizons

Location: Los Angeles, California Company Type: Non-Profit Company Size: 27 employees

Goals:

- Find an inexpensive tool tailored for small teams working within the same room to help focus ideation sessions - Find a resource that will provide troubleshooting and technical support

Scenario Gary is the president of Brighter Horizons, a non-profit organization that brings after school programming to under privileged areas. One of his key responsibilities is to guide his team through the planning phase of each project towards defining key goals and major milestones. Since a custom plan is required to meet the specific needs of each community, ideation sessions are held at the beginning of each project to brainstorm ways to tackle challenges facing the given community.

Now that Gary has built the company to over 20 people, he is ready to take on more projects, but unfortunately he cannot facilitate the planning phases for all of them. He would like to find a technological solution that can help his teams manage their own ideation sessions similar to that of his own methods.

Since they are a non-profit organization, Brighter Horizons does not have much money to implement a solution. This means Gary is looking for a product without advanced features. He simply wants a tool that will help him keep his teams on task throughout the meeting and guide them through the brainstorming, evaluation, and convergence processes. His teams will always be in the same room so he is not looking for something that has conferencing capabilities or other features which remote teams would find useful.

There are no plans for significant growth over the next few years, so Gary is fine with a solution that only accommodates a small number of users. He is interested, however, in a tool which is widely supported by a team of developers. Gary is not very tech savvy and does not have an IT expert on his staff, so he needs a company that will also provide the technology and troubleshooting support needed for the product.