A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to utilize the technology.
However, collaboration has become more complex, with the need to work with people all over the world in real time on a variety of different types of documents, using different devices.
[citation needed] Before cloud file sharing and collaboration software, most collaboration was limited to more primitive and less effective methods such as email and FTP among others where every change to a file was saved to a local hard drive or local area network, and had to be manually shared with other users.
explain the rise of cloud collaboration by pointing to the increasing use by workers of non-authorised websites and online tools to do their jobs.
Cloud collaboration is essential for IT departments with increasingly mobile workers and virtual workplaces needing access to data wherever they are, whether through a web browser, or on newer technologies such as smartphones and tablet devices.
The tech industry experienced several large paradigm changes due to collaborative software: Each of these revolutions brought with it new economies of scale.
Similarly, when virtualization technology was first proposed, application compatibility concerns and potential vendor lock-in were cited as barriers to adoption.
Furthermore, the trend now is for firms to employ a single software tool to solve all their collaboration needs, rather than having to rely on multiple different techniques.
Single cloud collaboration providers are now replacing a complicated tangle of instant messengers, email and FTP.