How SMBs are Building Powerful Collaboration Networks Using SharePoint-based Solutions

In the early days of CAD, product development collaboration was somewhat simplistic—and very time-consuming. Engineers in Design, Testing, Manufacturing and Assembly walked around the plant to exchange paper files, or gathered around a workstation to review concepts. They talked in person frequently, then painstakingly recorded their ideas in reference notebooks that contained the group’s common knowledge about each product: how it should be tested and assembled, where it should connect, and so on. It’s no wonder product cycles lasted months—sometimes years.

Today, the fundamentals of product development are the same, but the world of collaboration has changed radically. Now, design teams from all parts of the world gather in virtual meeting rooms to discuss products that are far more complex than ever. Product update cycles, too, are far more demanding, since products can now go through four or five cycles in a year, compared to one or two in years past.

As well, massive volumes of product development information—which once existed in a single engineering workstation, now flow at Internet speed across a complex digital infrastructure. No doubt, as CAD has matured, so have the technologies, such as Internet-based networking, that support product development collaboration. Yet, collaboration can still be a significant challenge for any product development company, regardless of size.

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