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Our lives have been fundamentally changed by new technological possibilities. But has our professional life gone through the same transition? Do we benefit sufficiently from new technological options?

We believe there is a lot we can improve in the way we professionally collaborate and share information.

Before we elaborate on the organization of the (near) future, let's take a better look at the way we currently communicate and collaborate. A lot of our work revolves around email and meetings.

Originally, before the digitale age started, our documents, our information was stored in folders, made from paper and plastic which were stored in filing cabinets.

In order to share information we needed the postman. He (or she) would deliver a paper copy of the original document. The recipient would process this information and save the document in a folder. That folder would - once again - be stored in another filing cabinet.

And then the PC era started. To enable a smooth transition to a digital workspace our filing cabinets, folders and documents were digitized. The filing cabinet became 'My Documents' or a specific hard drive. Folders became yellow digital folders used for the storage of our digital documents.

Bit by bit we replaced the traditional postman by our own personal postman, email. At first, we were cautious to use it but once we had gotten used to it, the postman went into overdrive. Email definitely made our work quicker. But the way we shared information didn't differ much from the days of the good-old postman.

When we send a document we attach a copy of the document to your email. Each recipient processes the information and stores the file in his or her digital filing cabinet (digital folders). Eventually some of us stopped doing this and started using the mailbox as a filing cabinet as well.

A lot has changed during the past 5 - 10 years.

Thanks to broadband internet, cloud technology and powerful portable devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones) we can have access to all of our information anytime, anywhere.

And there are new, more efficient and better ways to share knowledge and expertise, write documents and organize meetings.

We have extensive experience in implementing new ways of working into established organizations. The combination of these smart practices we call 'The Smart Working Concept'.

This change is not only about technology, they require a different mindset.

(Please note, you don't need to implement the following solutions all at once ;-)

Thanks to cloud applications we are no longer tied to one specific device to have access to our information. And we no longer need to send a copy of our document to each recipient. Instead of duplicating documents, we can grant access to that document. You can simultaneously work in the same document and you no longer have to wait until someone sends you the next version of a memo. Plus, it is clear to all involved what the status of a document is.

In the end it is also safer to have just one document in a secured digital space than to have many copies of the same document in dozens of email inboxes.

There are lots of technological solutions; from Microsoft Sharepoint and 365 to cheaper high quality-products such as Google Drive and Dropbox.

We all take notes to structure our thoughts and to remember important things. Pen and paper feel good and it seems to be the fastest way to take notes. And still, we have all faced the situation where you had to find that one specific note you had taken last week or maybe last year. It's quite hard and inefficient to search through a paper notebook. And it isn't easy to share information, in case you want to do that.

This is why notes should be digitized.

The two best solutions are Evernote, one of favourite apps, and OneNote, Microsoft's note taking app.

Both tools can be used for your own notes, but there is also the possibility to open (additional) shared notebooks. If you use those, you will find your own information and notes created by your colleagues. You will definitely find all the information that you are looking for and you could end up finding relevant notes that you didn't even know existed! Collaborative notebooks = sharing made easy.

Knowledge sharing can be improved by implementing better collaboration tools. This is crucial for every organization in the era of digital and online networks. Knowlegde and expertise are being shared faster than ever. Like Matt Ridley said: you can only achieve progress when people collaborate, when people work together innovation occurs.

To do this even better, we need to change the way we share knowledge. Due to an ever increasing amount of information we have to process our inboxes and regular meetings are no longer sufficient to have in dept discussions.

Many smaller organizations use existing social networks to enhance internal communication. Needless to say, you need rules and regulations to determine what can and cannot be discussed in such an online network.

You can also start using a more internal network, such as Yammer, or build your company's own social network on top of an existing (Sharepoint) structure. Social Intranets are a great way to make sure you and your colleagues improve the way they collaborate and share expertise.

Keeping track of projects takes a lot of work, not in the least because you have to go through your inbox multiples times per week to say what the latest news is and which tasks have been (or should have been) completed.

This is why it's better to use (online) project management tools. With use of these tools keeping track of all developments becomes easy. All tasks, updates and status reports can be found in one place that you can easily access from every device.

There are tons of tools you could use to stream your projects (or just your own tasks). Many of them, such as Wunderlist, RTM and Trello, are free but you could also opt for a more extensive paid solution like Basecamp.

Organizing meetings can be a challenge, especially in dynamic organizations where not all of your colleagues are at the same place all of the time. Video meeting applications make your professional life more flexible, you can join a meeting from anywhere. Plus, you can include people in other cities or nations in your meeting.

There are corporate or web-based (mostly free) solutions. Skype is a free tool but can also be part of your corporate communication package. Lync and Jabber are mostly corporate solutions as well, Google Hangouts (video meetings up to 10 persons) can be used for free.

- "Hey, do you want to get a coffee?"

- "I'm stuck in traffic, I'll be 10 minutes later"

- "How wants to go for a run at 12?"

Not really the type of messages you would send via email to (all of) your colleagues, right? Why not use an Instant Messagging tool?

Whatsapp groups are commonly used for social talk at work, but you could also work with Google Plus messenger (Hangout) or Microsoft's Lync.

Don't worry, you can turn off notifications in Whatsapp groups. So if you don't want to receive social talk after office hours you can decide to turn off the notifications and read those messages the next morning.

You can reach us on Whatsapp (+316 17 47 3222), Google Plus, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat. You can also call us or (as a last resort ;-) send us an email.

Implementing new collaboration and knowledge sharing tools can be challenging. It requires vision, determination and great project management.

Keep in mind that progress is impossible without change, and that we are naturally reluctant to change our habits. If you do that, you will overcome all challenges on your way to a better, more efficient way of collaborating.

Seedble helps established organizations to improve their business processes. We can help you find the most suitables improvements for your organization.

Obviously, we have implemented the smart working concept as well. Internally, we don't use email. Instead, we use online communities (Google Plus), write our documents online, use video meetings all the time and have implemented an online project management tool (Trello) in our daily routines. We are happy and we can't wait sharing our experiences and expertise with you.