What groupware functionality do users really use?: A study of collaboration within digital ecosystems

The current work environment is moving from monolithic, heavyweight cooperative systems to a more lightweight digital ecosystem with a tremendous choice of available systems. Big enterprise information systems compete with small specialized tools, which are not feature rich, but concentrate on one cooperation scenario they solve. We can observe that employees are moving their cooperation outside of the system and incorporate lightweight tools. This paper aims to have a fresh look at collaboration techniques and how a current groupware system is used nowadays. Therefore the paper describes the experiences and observations from several academic and commercial proects to inform the design of future collaborative environment.