The general manager of QuickBase provides help for selecting and implementing workflow collaboration programs.

Do you remember that Dilbert panel where Dilbert follows a building map to find the marketing department? Upon arrival, he finds Grecian columns, a party that would make Bacchus proud and a sign that says, "Welcome to Marketing. Two drink minimum." For me, having been on both sides of those Grecian columns, this cartoon sums up a gap that exists between marketing and technology.

The biggest reason for the gap is the cartoon's punch line: Marketing is a highly interactive, social sport. And, until recently, with the exception of uber-geek, multi-player games, technology wasn't social. Think about it… PowerPoint and Word aren't what we use to work together. Rather, we have email (loads of it) and meetings to develop our presentations, messages, pitches, and basically, get work done. Even multi-user software, like a CRM system, is designed primarily for management tracking and reporting, not working together on a new branding campaign, a big deal, an annual event or the programs that drive all those sales leads. These marketing workflows need technology that's as interactive as they are.

"Collaborative" technology to support business workflows has been around for awhile. I learned many of the advantages of this technology with Lotus Notes. On the upside, at one software company, our customers' executives would actually call us to find out the status of any issue with an installation -- even an issue on their side -- because we "always know the full story." Our whole team contributed to that story by tracking issues and their status via our Notes system, and we all benefited. The reason that collaborative technology worked is that we could customize it to fit our workflow, making it simple to use, so we did really use it.

Unfortunately, at the same company, this collaborative technology didn't work for marketing. We worked with many outside partners: creative contractors, an outside PR agency, vendors of all sorts, and of course, customers. Our Notes system was installed at our location, and was inaccessible to outside vendors. We needed something that could work seamlessly across company boundaries, while keeping our information safe.

This first-generation collaborative technology had other hurdles. Mere mortals could not support it; we needed full-time staff that could program and also knew our workflows inside and out. Keeping the systems up and running 24/7 required another position to fund and fill. After seeing some incredible advantages with collaborative technology, unfortunately, I had to abandon it.

Over the last 15 years, though, things have changed: The internet as a stable "platform" for technology; software-as-a-service providers (like RightNow, WebEx, Salesforce.com, and Intuit's QuickBase) have matured; and we have new technologies, like AJAX, that help deliver a rich, software-like experience in a website. Today, you can get high quality, collaborative technology sharable internally or across company boundaries, reliably and securely, with no support required from IT. With these advances, marketing has an opportunity to make their daily workflows as collaborative -- as engagingly interactive -- as their marketing campaigns.

So, how do you find collaboration software to support you and your team? Here are my top five ways to get started:

#1. Know your process. Whatever technology you choose must support your process. That means it needs to make it easier to do what you are actually doing today. Technology often tends towards an overabundance of process… some folks would even call it bureaucratic. You want a technology that supports what you do today without requiring new behaviors, or a great deal of added work. Whether you have five, 10, 100, or 1,000 people working in your organization, you want them to be effective, and supporting them in working the way they work is critical.

Tell your prospective vendors your top workflows and have them <I>show<I> you how their technology will support you and all the people involved in that process. They should be able to answer questions, give you examples of how others have been successful with similar workflows, and even be able to say that they use it themselves. I am amazed at how many technology companies don't use their own products.

#2. Don't forget your partners. I mentioned this point already, and it is critical for marketing. We work with internal product teams, with legal and communications teams, with customers, with contractors, with agencies, with vendors and with partners. As an example, what good is an event management system that doesn't allow me to easily track work with my product teams, or my customer account team, or my A/V vendor, or my design freelancer or my selected venue team? Your marketing team will only be more efficient if the technology easily supports working with teams outside of marketing. This means the system has to be easy to use-- no installations or training. This is where web-based, software-as-a-service provides some great options.

#3. Focus on workflow. There are two basic types of collaboration software: real-time and workflow systems. Real-time tools, like instant messaging, white boarding, conferencing and chat are great for "bursts" of interaction, whereas your team spends most of their time "collaborating" in a workflow:

• Alex decides sales needs a white paper on security
• Liz needs to define and schedule the writing and design
• Liz verifies with Alex that she's covering what sales needs
• Anna needs to design the layout of the document, and get feedback from Liz
• The security team needs to review and approve the content
• Kathy should get notified in case she wants to use it in some programs, et cetera

It isn't important for Liz and Anna to be able to collaborate real time on what the layout is, but it is critical for Liz to know when Anna is done with her first draft for review. It isn't critical that Alex and Kathy decide on programs together, but it is critical that the sales team knows when the white paper is being promoted. This is workflow and it is how things get done. If a vendor can't support your workflow, then find another vendor.

#4. Expect simplicity. I'll follow my own advice and keep this one simple. You must think about how much time and energy you are going to require from your team to learn this new system. By focusing on workflow, you are taking the right first step; now take the next and consider team adoption. How easily are the workflows implemented? Does a team member have to hunt through screens of information to find his action items? Does she have to go to four different screens to update one piece of information? Find a system that supports having each team member's information most readily available, while allowing clear, fast paths to any additional information needed.

In addition to making it easy for your team, you need a system that's easy to support. Make sure you talk to your vendor about what is required to maintain this technology. How much time do most customers spend supporting it? How easy is it to change?

#5. Start now and iterate. John Hagel, the respected "where business meets technology" strategist, often says you need experience with a technology to be able to know how to use it. Don't spend six months defining your "perfect solution," then another six months installing and customizing it. Find a flexible solution that allows you and your team to change the solution easily. Yes, I really mean this. Many new technologies are easy enough for non-techies, even some technophobes, to customize. So, you can get started right away with core workflows, get your team comfortable using the technology, then iterate to improve the solution. Just make sure at least one person is actually making changes regularly.

To get started, ask your selected vendors for a free trial. An advantage of internet-based, software-as-a-service providers is that they have few costs associated with letting you try the software, and you have little cost associated with trying it. Take advantage of this. With some, you'll be able to get an application working for your team within the trial period. This means that you are, right now, just days away from technology that can increase visibility and accountability across your team, and save valuable time and effort, at a cost you can afford. What are you waiting for?

Jana Eggers is the general manager of QuickBase, a division of Intuit Inc. that provides hosted business management solutions. Prior to QuickBase, Eggers served as the vice president of marketing at Basis Technology and was responsible for European operations including marketing for Sabre's Logistics division.