Discussion Forums
Discussion forums, when used seriously, can be incredible resources for companies. Staff can use them for any type of collaborative feedback and discussion processes where extended physical meetings are impossible. They allow for paced review, thought and response in a way that is very similar to group e-mails, but quite distinct.
Once a discussion has started, people can read previously posted comments and post their own thoughts in response to them, or as a new comment. The distinction here is that discussion forums have the potential for multi-threaded discussions where a graphical representation of a discussion's flow of posts and responses is available to users. This is something that is very difficult to do through e-mail and is unique to this type of tool.
As well, a discussion that continues for several months over the course of a project can sometimes lack all the relevant information in context. Use of a forum like this, however, will allow for quick, efficient references to previous points and issues.
Private discussion forums can be created for specific projects, initiatives and departments, and public discussions forums can be utilized for general corporate questions and answers. A key feature that should be included in any discussion forum is search, so users can search for words and phrases in specific discussions and across all discussions (as per requirements and permissions, to restrict access where necessary).