A Review of Team Collaboration Tools for Crisis Response in the Military and Government

Abstract : The military operates today both administratively and tactically using collaboration tools. The purpose of this report is to explore the recent past and current status of collaboration tools use in order to provide recommendations for the future with respect to crisis reaction. In other words, what are the best webbased tools to support small team interaction and work when team members cannot reside in the same physical workspace? Two methods, ad hoc research and systematic document search, were used to identify commercial and proprietary collaboration tools that deserve review and consideration for military and government crisis response. In this report we report on 64 collaboration technologies and tools, 37 in use by the United States (U.S.) Military and Government. The collaborative technologies and tools are grouped into three categories: (a) Modern collaboration technologies for the design, development, or enhancement of collaboration tools, (b) collaboration tools being used in the military or government, and (c) collaboration tools recommended for consideration by the military or government for crisis response. The identified tools or technologies are described in terms of capabilities and are analyzed for potential to improve collaboration for crisis actions teams.

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