Towards a Virtual Collaborator in Online Collaboration from an Organizations’ Perspective

In this empiric study, we present the specifications of virtual collaboration in times of the Covid-19 pandemic in an organization that worked mostly co-located beforehand, and requirements for a virtual collaborator (VC) resulting from those specifications. Related work shows that a VCs can support virtual teams in achieving their goals and promote creative work. We extend this with insights from practice by observing creative and collaborative workshops in the automotive industry and conducting interviews with facilitators and participants of these workshops. Subsequently, we identify the challenges that participants face in virtual collaboration, and derive design guidelines for a VC to address them. Main problems arise due to the virtual interaction lacking nonverbal communication and in the preparation phase that requires more planning and effort. A VC could help by influencing group cohesion and build networks between the participants, influencing the virtual working environment as well as contributing to the contents