There are tons of collaboration tools out there. Lots of them support video. There isn’t a clear “best” or “better” solution, as it all depends on needs and communication characteristics.

And yet, if I were an enterprise, big or small, looking for a collaboration tool, there are a few things I would look for, guidelines I would follow. I call them my 10 commandments for collaboration software:

I. I am Standard-based

While proprietary solutions can promise (and even deliver) cool features that look great in the PR, if you want to invest wisely, protect your investment and complement your existing infrastructure, you better choose a standard-based solution.

In the collaboration world this means SIP and H323 support, as both are well established in the communication and collaboration markets. Supporting SIP and H323 also means you get full interoperability with any other standard-based product, be it from the same vendor or even from its fiercest competitor.

II. Remember to Keep Deployment Easy

If you are talking about mass deployment, and even if your current deployment is not massive but you don’t want to waste time maintaining it, your solution should be easily distributed and easily managed. This means a browser based client (where you just install a plug-in, not a whole application), which can be downloaded in matter of seconds to any computer, without any worry about administrator rights or other technicalities.

III. You Shall Not Limit Yourself to Enterprise Boundaries

Collaboration tools are necessary for collaboration. And collaboration doesn’t stop at enterprise boundaries. You want collaborate with your co-workers, but you also want to collaborate with people outside your organization – be it suppliers, partners, customers or friends.

IV. You shall not Limit Your Experience or Connectivity

People today are always-connected: near their desktops, on the road with their mobile handset, outside with their laptops using WiFi or at the comfort of their home. Providing the same experience, seamlessly, in these varying locations and networks connection should be a top priority for your collaboration tool.

V. You Shall Enjoy a High-end Experience

This is 2009. Desktop clients should be able to use HD video and audio (720p resolution – send and receive) and allow me to share data (any data – documents, my desktop) using “smart” tools such as annotation. All of these, of course, should follow the first commandment of following standards.

VI. Stream Thy Collaboration

In many cases most of the users are not active collaborators. They just want to see the conference, get the details. They don’t want to participate, and they don’t want to install anything (and they definitely don’t want to pay for it). Conference streaming using a simple web-browser, just like we all do on the Internet, is not just a nice solution, it is a must.

VII. You Shall Archive Your Collaboration

Conference archiving is a powerful tool, as the data being exchanged during collaboration is most valuable, and you don’t want to spend most of the time taking notes. It can also assist in providing offline users access to past sessions.

VIII. You Shall Not Require VPN

VPNs are great, but can become a huge limitation if they are necessary “just” for making a call. Embedded NAT & firewall traversal allows you to connect with anyone, using the same corporate infrastructure, without worrying about the VPN, even if you are not part of the organization.

IX. Remember It Should Be Easy to Use and Scale

Ask any IT manager and he will tell you that ease of use and scalability are most important. This includes:

• Using the client with other collaboration systems of leading UC vendors, such as Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and others
• Windows and Mac-OS support, especially in these days when people are opting for Mac notebooks
• Possibility of embedding the client in your company portal or any other system
• Full internationalization, including all languages

X. Secure Your Collaboration

Encryption for the media and data, using standard encryption protocols, is a must, and I don’t think I have to explain here.

Simple Interpretation

As with any religion, collaboration is not black and white. The exact prioritization between the commandments depends on your specific needs.

If I was the decision maker, I would go for a solution that follows these 10 commandments. Such solutions exist. And there aren’t too many of them. As I said, there isn’t a “best solution”, but if you are to consider implementing and using a collaboration tool, you better make sure you are well prepared for the demands of your users.