Developing and selling world-class intellectual products is all about people collaborating closely at every step in the process. A publishing company who needs to produce reports, publications, journals or specialist media requires a team of experts to work closely together in the creation, production and selling of each item. However, teams are often geographically dispersed across different offices, with journalists working from home and specialists constantly on the road, therefore there needs to be a way of sharing information across these teams.

By selecting Microsoft Office Live Meeting to alleviate these challenges, publishing companies can enable individuals to easily share and review information in real time, regardless of location.  Microsoft Office SharePoint also provides a central repository for all documents relating to projects, serving to co-ordinate reviews of the materials, as well as acting as a versioning control tool, which has typically slowed down content development with lengthy editing and review cycles. Additionally, with Microsoft Live Communications Server, remote workers can identify the 'presence' of their co-workers as being online, on mobile or offline, meaning they can collaborate in real-time with those available should a question arise during the editorial process. By using these technologies, publishing companies are able to speed up their time to market for a new product which, in the world of specialised publishing, gives a competitive advantage.