16-05-2025
Improving communication and collaboration
When workers are spread across time zones rather than gathered around a whiteboard, moving creative ideas forward quickly can be complicated. In a recent survey conducted by Lucid Software, a producer of visual collaboration technology, three-quarters of knowledge workers identified ineffective communication or collaboration as a barrier to innovation.
Lucid is out to break through that barrier. Its AI-powered Intelligence Platform aims to make it easier for team members to communicate their thoughts visually, discuss challenges, plan solutions, and successfully complete projects. 'We remove bottlenecks so that we can get to decisions faster, get to clarity faster, and build plans faster,' says Nathan Rawlins, Lucid's chief marketing officer. 'That's where things really start to shift.'
Lucid's creative approach to empower teamwork, improve productivity, and support the development of new ideas helped earn the company a spot on Fast Company 's 2025 list of Most Innovative Companies.
INSTANT RESULTS
Visual representations such as workflow diagrams or organizational charts are essential tools for helping teams improve processes and understand how complex systems work, but they can be time-consuming to produce and alter.
That's partly why Lucid made AI a priority in 2024. Users of its Intelligence Platform can simply describe a complex sequence, such as a customer service workflow, and Lucidchart will immediately make a diagram. Lucid AI then prompts users to experiment with the diagram, iterate improvements, and customize the system to meet the team's needs.
The platform also provides content summaries, so other team members can come up to speed quickly and join the brainstorming effort. All told, the time saved can be dramatic. According to Rawlins, an auto manufacturer recently completed a diagram in 20 minutes that in the past would have taken 240 hours of staff time.
By analyzing activity on projects, the platform also helps businesses get a better handle on how people communicate and share ideas, so companies can understand who is working with whom, where projects might be stuck, and which groups might be overloaded with work. This information allows managers to focus support where it's most needed and complete projects more quickly.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
The Intelligence Platform is also designed to ensure that all voices are heard. For example, the platform allows users to anonymously vote on ideas, regardless of where they sit on the corporate ladder. Team members even can suggest ideas or questions anonymously—or to provide visual representations of their ideas rather than attempting to explain their thoughts in words. These options may be particularly useful for neurodivergent individuals or others who have a hard time expressing themselves in a traditional manner. Meanwhile, newer employees, who might feel intimidated by directly suggesting changes to a concept during a meeting, can do so prior to the start of a formal discussion and have their thoughts judged on their own merits.
'We talk a lot about having an infinite canvas where you could have a hundred people all brainstorming together at the same time,' Rawlins says. 'To the extent you can make it easier for anyone in the company to be involved in innovation, the better.'
