It happens to the brightest teams in the best organizations: groupthink, uneven team contribution, blown deadlines, misaligned priorities, and other collaboration issues that derail truly great work from happening. And it’s not that these teams (or your team) aren’t capable of collaboration, they just don’t have the right tools.
Team collaboration software is any digital platform that helps your team communicate, share work, and move faster together. This includes anything from messaging apps to visual collaboration platforms, all with the intent of bringing scattered conversations, files, and decisions into one place so teams can align without the endless back-and-forth.
Use the right team collaboration tool and you set your team up for successful product launches and on-time deliveries; use the wrong tool (or a tool that isn’t fit for purpose) and you’ll see stalled progress, blown deadlines, and overall diminished output. But with so many options, how do you know which collaboration software for teams actually fits how your people work?
This guide cuts through the noise and gives you the information you need to choose the right tool for your team, no matter if you’re in marketing, sales, R&D, or leading cross-functional initiatives.
What this guide covers:
• What team collaboration software is and why it matters now
• Types of collaboration tools and where visual collaboration platforms fit
• Features to prioritize in your team collaboration tool
• How to evaluate collaboration software for teams
• Why go-to-market teams are choosing visual collaboration
What is team collaboration software?
Team collaboration software brings your team's communication, files, and workflows into a shared digital space so you don’t have to go hunting through email threads or jumping between apps. Everyone works from the same information at the same time.
These platforms have evolved well beyond basic chat and file sharing. Collaboration tools support real-time and async work, connect to the systems teams already use, and increasingly use AI to help synthesize information and surface insights faster. For distributed and hybrid teams, they've become essential infrastructure, like the internet.
Why modern teams use collaboration software
When we started to shift to hybrid and distributed work, something started to become obvious: alignment doesn't happen by accident. When people aren't in the same room, knowledge gaps widen fast. Collaboration software closes those gaps.
Your team today most likely faces more pressure to move quickly across functions, time zones, and competing priorities. The right tools help them share context, make decisions visible, and keep momentum even when everyone can't meet at the same time. Here's how the main categories stack up:
Virtual meeting tools
Video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet bring people together in real time. But meetings alone don't capture the thinking that happens, and without a shared artifact, the insights from a good conversation often disappear when the call ends. Mural's Lead better hybrid meetings template helps teams structure discussions and keep outcomes visible after the call.
Visual collaboration software
Visual collaboration platforms like Mural give teams a shared place to brainstorm, map out ideas, and work through complex problems together. Unlike static documents or linear chat, visual collaboration makes thinking visible. Teams can see the full picture, spot connections, and align faster, whether they're in the same room or spread across time zones.
And the best visual collaboration tools go further. With these tools you’ll see AI-powered features that help teams cluster ideas, summarize discussions, and generate new directions without starting from scratch. For go-to-market teams running workshops, planning campaigns, or aligning stakeholders, visual collaboration has become the connective tissue between ideation and execution.
Messaging apps
Platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams handle quick conversations, status updates, and the day-to-day coordination that used to create scary email inboxes. They're great for fast communication, but information can get buried as channels fill up. For complex decisions or strategic work, teams often need something more structured.
Project management tools
We’re spoilt for choice with PM tools like Asana, Jira, and Monday.com to help teams track tasks, deadlines, and dependencies. They're essential for execution, but they focus on what needs to get done, not how teams think through problems or align on strategy before work begins.
Document collaboration platforms
Solutions like Google Docs, Microsoft 365, and Notion let teams co-author documents in real time. They're great for finalizing deliverables, but they're less suited to the exploratory, nonlinear thinking that happens earlier in the process.
Features to look for in team collaboration tools
We all know that not every feature matters equally for every team. But these six capabilities consistently separate tools that actually improve how teams work from those that just add another tab to manage.
Real-time and async collaboration
Teams rarely work on the same schedule, so you should look for tools that support both live collaboration and async contributions, so work keeps moving even when everyone can't be online together. Features like comments, @mentions, and activity feeds help distributed teams stay connected without requiring constant meetings.
Integrations with your existing tools
Collaboration software shines and does what it does best when it connects to the systems your team already uses. Look for integrations with project management tools (Jira, Asana, Azure DevOps), CRMs (Salesforce), and communication platforms (Slack, Microsoft Teams). Two-way sync is especially valuable; it means updates flow between tools automatically, so no one wastes time on duplicate data entry. Mural's integrations connect visual collaboration to the tools teams rely on, including two-way sync with Jira, Azure DevOps, Salesforce, and Asana.
AI-powered features
AI started as a novelty in collaboration tools, but it’s matured into a force multiplier. The most useful AI features help teams synthesize large amounts of input, cluster ideas by theme, summarize discussions, and generate starting points for brainstorms. These capabilities reduce the manual effort of organizing and analyzing information, so teams can focus on making decisions rather than processing data. Mural AI includes mind maps for generating ideas, clustering to organize sticky notes by topic, and summaries to capture key takeaways.
Security and data protection
Enterprise teams need confidence that their work is protected. Look for platforms that offer identity and access management, data encryption, and compliance with regulations like GDPR and SOC 2. Collaboration controls, audit logs, and admin visibility matter too, especially for organizations in regulated industries. Mural's trust and security features are built for enterprise requirements, including data residency options and granular collaboration controls.
Ease of use and accessibility
The best collaboration tool is the one your team actually uses. Prioritize intuitive interfaces, mobile access, and low barriers to getting started. Features like drag-and-drop, keyboard shortcuts, and accessibility support help ensure everyone can participate fully, regardless of technical skill or how they access the platform. Mural is available on web, desktop, and mobile, so teams can collaborate from anywhere.
Templates and scalability
Templates accelerate common workflows and help teams maintain consistency across projects. Look for platforms that offer a library of ready-to-use templates and the flexibility to create custom ones. Scalability matters too; your tool should handle growing teams and increasing complexity without slowing down. Explore Mural's template library for project planning, retrospectives, brainstorming, and team charters.
How to evaluate team collaboration software
Yes, finding the right tool requires comparing feature lists, but you also need a solid evaluation process. Here’s what that should look like:
Start with your team's actual pain points
Before you demo anything, get specific about what's not working today. Are decisions getting stuck because stakeholders aren't aligned? Is context getting lost between planning sessions and execution? Are teams duplicating work because information lives in too many places? The clearer you are about the problem, the easier it is to evaluate whether a tool actually solves it.
Test with real workflows
Free trials and demos are only useful if you test the tool against your actual work. Run a real brainstorm, plan an actual campaign, or map a genuine stakeholder landscape. Pay attention to how intuitive the experience feels and whether the tool helps your team move faster or just adds friction.
Involve the people who'll use it
Don't make this decision in a vacuum. Get input from the team members who'll be in the tool every day. Their feedback on usability, fit with existing workflows, and likelihood of adoption is more valuable than any feature comparison spreadsheet. Mural's team feedback template can help you gather structured input from stakeholders.
Consider total cost and long-term fit
Look beyond the subscription price and factor in onboarding time, training needs, integration costs, and the hidden expense of tools that don't get adopted. A slightly more expensive platform that your team actually uses delivers better ROI than a cheaper option that sits unused collecting dust.
Track adoption and outcomes after launch
Once you've made a choice, measure how it's working. Track adoption rates, time saved on common tasks, and qualitative feedback from users. Schedule regular check-ins to identify what's working and where the tool might need better configuration or additional training.
Why go-to-market teams choose visual collaboration
Go-to-market success hinges on alignment. Marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams need to move in sync, often across different tools, time zones, and priorities. When alignment breaks down, we’ve all seen what happens: launches slip, messaging gets muddled, and opportunities fall through the cracks.
Visual collaboration gives GTM teams a shared space to plan campaigns, map stakeholder relationships, run workshops, and align on strategy. Because the work is visible, everyone can see the current state, contribute ideas, and track progress without waiting for the next status meeting.
With Mural, teams can brainstorm with AI-powered mind maps, cluster feedback to find patterns, sync planning work directly to Salesforce or project management tools, and move from ideas to execution without losing context along the way. Try Mural with your team, or request a demo to see how visual collaboration can accelerate your go-to-market motion.
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