As the global economy continues to pick up steam, it is becoming more important than ever before for businesses both big and small to have the capability to collaborate with offices spread out both nationally and internationally. The best way to do this, of course, is through the electronic maze of information sharing and research that is known as the Internet.

As multiple companies begin to take advantage of the collaboration opportunities the Internet has to offer (both within their own companies and on multi-level projects) an increasing number of businesses are becoming involved in developing collaboration software. As with so many tools available for personal computers today, businesses have the choice of using either a tool developed specifically for a desktop (usually developed by Microsoft or one of the other big companies) or a tool developed specifically online, for online collaboration. In this article, we are going to take a look at why an Internet-based collaboration tool might be a better choice for your business than a desktop tool.

Multi-platform capabilities. Remember that the desktop tool development industry is all about producing the tool that works well, but only on one platform. Desktop tools will almost always be limited in their use to one of the big platforms, and very rarely can everyone access them. This means that every individual that you are collaborating with must have the same working platform on their computer; Macs cannot operate Windows tools, and so on. An Internet based collaboration tool will work over multiple platforms.

Expanding functions. Another disadvantage of a desktop collaboration tool is that they are sold as a unit; once they hit the market, the package is complete with the exception of patches to take care of bugs. An Internet based tool can be continuously developed and even tailored to the individual tastes and needs of the people who are working on the project; in other words, there is a lot more flexibility with an Internet based tool. Internet based tools are often less expensive. When you pay for a desktop tool, you often have to factor in the cost of the brand. Whether this cost is in actual dollars or in bytes on your computer (if you want to use this, you must also download that, and so on), it can be very annoying. Internet based tools don’t carry the stigma of branding, you just use the tool for its capabilities. The result is a more efficient tool at a lower price.

There are many reasons to choose an Internet based collaboration tool over a desktop tool. These reasons run from the program’s custom capabilities to the price of the tools themselves.