To improve operational effectiveness, organizations are investing in collaboration tools. Here’s how Sessions provides a space for communication and work.
To improve operational effectiveness, organizations are investing in workstream collaboration tools that provide group chat and file-sharing capabilities. These tools and their channels will enhance communication, but they fall short of impacting overall operations. What they lack is an organized space for more than chat — a space for actual work to happen. Coolfire is the first collaboration software to provide a space for both communication and work. We call it a Session.
Sessions organize communication and activity around the events that occur in a business’s daily operations. They provide a unified view of operations and make it easy for teams to see and share information like location, task status, and workflow. They also allow organizations to send messages and alerts in the context of work. Essentially, Sessions hold the who, what, when, and where of each project or event.
Goodbye Chat, Hello Action
Chatting in channels is fast but leaves valuable information unorganized and often ungoverned. By contrast, Sessions organize messages and information with the activity of a project. Teams can communicate instantly, assign tasks, mark work as completed, and alert the next shift to any exceptions from the day.
On top of that, Sessions provide time and location stamping for all communication and activity. Sessions also include role-based permissions so teams can work seamlessly with multiple departments, companies, outside vendors, and even customers. This additional context and flexibility reduce the need for meetings or phone calls to get clarification and approval for work.
A Session can be opened or closed manually or can be automated based on sensor data and workflow. Sessions remain open for the duration of a project and provide real-time visibility to everyone on the team. When a Session is closed and saved, it contains valuable data that would otherwise be lost or spread across numerous systems. That historical data is now available for further action, including process improvement, compliance reporting, and employee training.
In short, Sessions provide real-time visibility, so the job is done now versus later. Visibility enables a level of productivity and operational effectiveness that is sorely needed in today’s economic climate where more than 80% of workers say they depend on technology to collaborate but their operations require them to use redundant chat, file-sharing, and productivity tools.
How Sessions Improve Operational Effectiveness in Practice
Here are a few use case examples to demonstrate how Sessions can help your company improve operational effectiveness.
Most airlines utilize a control center to manage their complex operations. Airline employees in those centers, at the gate, and on the tarmac are often overwhelmed with instant message updates related to hundreds of flights or rely on phone calls to learn about delays. Each late flight triggers a cascade of problems, impacting incoming flights, connecting flights, and more — but to untangle these problems, employees have to dig through chat channels and voicemail to find necessary information.
In contrast, information is communicated rapidly and tasks assigned automatically when a Session is created for each flight. A Session connects the operation and gate crews to ensure they share a common operational picture. This level of shared awareness can vastly reduce the tendency for flight delays.
As another example, imagine a logistics manager responsible for scheduling a fleet of delivery trucks. If a shipment is missing or damaged, the manager must quickly notify all parties, potentially find an alternate truck, and re-schedule any subsequent deliveries. Traditionally, this requires a full day of making calls and sending email updates. All the while, the shipment does not arrive and the customer is not happy.
If this same logistics manager had created a Session for this delivery, all parties would be connected, know the location of the truck via GPS tracking, and have real-time access to TMS sensor data. This would be done instantly, no phone calls or emails are required.
Ultimately, the goal of a Session is to organize teams around work and eliminate chatter. With Sessions, you can remove the noise of unnecessary information, eliminate the need for emails and phone calls, and avoid costly downtime that erodes your operational effectiveness.
To find out more about how your company can benefit from Sessions, get started with Coolfire Core today.
