"It's one of those things we're just going to have to use to compete," says John Cunliffe, operations manager for Bechtel's corporate collaboration systems group.

COLLABORATION IS HOW BUSINESS GETS DONE. Public relations is an information-intensive business that places a premium on knowledge sharing. After investing $500,000 in software and implementation, Hill & Knowlton Inc. created its HK Net knowledge-management system to make information sharing more efficient. By combining Intraspect's collaboration platform with real-time tools such as instant messaging, the agency has built a knowledge-based intranet that it believes lowers costs and generates more revenue.

One of the most popular applications is a searchable archive where employees can log valuable E-mail strings. The archive is proving helpful in bringing up to date new employees, representatives switching accounts, and new participants in a discussion. It also alerts employees who've asked to be contacted when information on a particular client or topic is added to the database. By embedding presence awareness -- the ability to tell if a person is online and available -- in those alerts, employees can use instant messaging to discuss an issue or invite other account team members into an online conference.

Lily Loh, director of business development and marketing, uses HK Net to keep from spending her days answering questions from other employees. The system is far from ingrained in her colleagues' minds -- she usually has to refer people to it -- but it can handle basic requests such as background on a client or industry information. The result, Loh says, is that she can spend more time on marketing initiatives and strategic projects, with far fewer interruptions. "I'm able to be more thoughtful and responsive," she says.

That's how it improves efficiency, but how can it bring in revenue? The payoff on such information-sharing systems is notoriously tough to measure, and Hill & Knowlton isn't an exception. But Ted Graham, worldwide director of knowledge-management services, credits the firm's ability to collaborate electronically and tap into its knowledge base as key to winning new clients, including a recent Ernst & Young account.

In the world of financial services, information is money, which explains why the industry has been among the most-aggressive adopters of collaborative technologies. At ABN Amro Bank N.V., collaboration via divine Inc.'s MindAlign real-time messaging application is leading to more-effective trading and more-informed customers. "Every part of the firm has information needed by other parts," says Andy Konchan, director of global financial markets E-commerce.

Since its rollout in March, MindAlign has let ABN Amro's traders, analysts, and customers set up multiple chat groups, forums, and group channels, all of which are built around targeted information, such as events affecting foreign-exchange values. The application's 2,500 users have created some 100 channels, each of which is assigned its own security level. Alert messages inform users when the channels they follow are updated, and Konchan says the average ABN Amro user has five channels running all day, providing proprietary updates on market rumors, trader information, and research findings.