Free 'enterprise class' collaboration tool

A UK startup plans to bring an enterprise-class collaborative tool to individuals and small businesses – for free.

The One Drum package, from a company of the same name, is currently in private beta and allows several people to work simultaneous on a Microsoft Office document.

Company founder Jasper Westaway believes collaboration software is about to boom because of the increasing capabilities of the web, and that current methods impose a way of doing things rather than fitting themselves to the way people work.

He says most collaboration is done by email, with multiple copies floating around, 'serial' rather than simultaneous authoring and changes that are hard to track.

'Repository' systems such as Sharepoint and Live Spaces hinge on a single master copy and do not allow real-time collaboration and online systems such as Google Docs have limited functionality and require staff to be trained on a new system.

Westaway says One Drum allows people and companies to use the software they already own and are familiar with. It can be used either from a dedicated client module or via a browser, allowing you to invite people into a collaboration even if they have not signed up.

All people involved can view and change the document – a spreadsheet, presentation or text – in real time even if they are using different generations of the same product. People making changes are identified, and chats between them are linked to the documents to which they refer.

Future, paid-for premium products will include voice chats and video. A second beta of One Drum will be made available to the first 1,000 people who sign up on 15 May, which is national Work Wise Week.