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2002 Infosys Technologies Limited Collaboration Technologies TSR Page 3 of 74

Re-examine the impact of Internal and External collaboration in the enterprise context using examples

like Volvo's Green car (Marketing Vs Production) and Cambell Soup's winter promotion disaster

Discuss the evolution of CPFR as a contribution of Richard Drayer and Sam Walton original contribution

of CFAR, which morphed into CPFR

Differentiate between the roles of JMI and VMI, JIT 1 and JIT 2 in the evolution of collaboration

Include more case studies like Inoki Lopez (GM - Head of Procurement) vis--vis Bob Lutz (Head ofChrysler) in early 90s and how Bob's collaborative efforts led to Chrysler's turnaround

The following technology areas to be added:

EDI data formats like X.12 / EDIFACT

Transaction support of Web Services, Web Services coordination, WS transaction and BTP

New age messaging products like SonicMQ

Agent technology as an important element of collaboration initiatives

The work of W3C and OASIS in collaboration

HTTPR needs to be mentioned Interoperability issues with XML collaboration.


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6.4 Knowledge Management and Collaboration Technologies ....................................... 29

7. Deployment scenarios and considerations for collaboration........ ............... ............... . 32

7.1 Deployment Scenarios ............................................................................................... 32

7.2 Building Solutions for Change.... .................. ................. ................. .................. .......... 32

7.3 Deployment Considerations....................................................................................... 33

8. Characteristics and challenges of a collaborative enterprise ...................................... 36

8.1 Characteristics of a Collaborative Enterprise.................. .................. .................. ....... 36

8.2 Challenges to Collaboration....................................................................................... 36

9. Role of IT in collaboration......... ................ ................ ................ ................ ................ ........ 39

10. Role of HUMAN FACTORS in collaboration .................................................................... 40

10.1 Usage-Centered Design........... ................. .................. ................. ................. ............. 40

10.2 Adoption and Acceptance .................. ................. .................. .................. .................. . 40

10.3 Support for Appropriate Communication Structure .................................................... 41

10.4 Customization and Grounding ................................................................................... 41

10.5 Decision Making Control ............................................................................................ 41

10.6 Awareness............... ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. .............. 41

10.7 Usability Issues .......................................................................................................... 42

11. An overview of collaboration standards ......................................................................... 43

11.1 Information Level Standards ...................................................................................... 43

11.2 System Level Collaboration Standards...................................................................... 44 11.3 Process Level Collaboration Standards................. ................... .................... ............. 44

11.4 Relationship Level Collaboration Standards .............................................................. 44

11.5 Specific Standards for Collaborative Commerce....................................................... 44

11.6 Vertical Standards...................................................................................................... 48

12. An overview of collaborative technologies........... ............... ................ ................ ........... 49

12.1 Infrastructure Technologies............ .................. .................. ................. .................. ..... 49

12.2 Integration Technologies................. .................. .................. .................. .................. ... 49

12.3 Interactivity technologies................ ................. ................. .................. ................. ....... 50

13. Web Services............... ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. .................. 51

13.1 Impact of Web Services on Collaboration Vendors ................................................... 51

13.2 Enterprise Security ..................................................................................................... 53

14. Role of Collaboration Products........................................................................................ 55

14.1 Workgroup Products .................................................................................................. 55


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14.2 Collaboration Products and Security.... .................. ................. ................. .................. 56

15. Role and Impact of Technology Vendors and Service Providers in Collaboration .... 57

15.1 Microsoft..................................................................................................................... 57

15.2 Lotus/IBM ................................................................................................................... 58

15.3 Vertical Solution Vendors.................. .................. ................... .................. .................. 58

16. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 60

17. References............. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. ....... 61

18. APPENDIX A Collaborative Technologies Explained ................................................. 62

19. APPENDIX B - Standards for Collaboration Explained............... ............... ................ .... 73


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11 .. IInnttr r oodduuccttiioonn aa nndd DDee f f iinniittiioonn oof f CCoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn

1.1 Introduction to CollaborationThe term collaboration has a wide scope of application. It is usually used to refer to people working together on

common tasks or the aid extended to a thing or a person to produce or create something new. The usage of the

term collaboration is nonrestrictive as it cuts across arts, science and culture. For example, a team of inter-

disciplinary researchers physically working on a joint research project or a cross-cultural artistic endeavor, which

results in mutual benefit, can be classified as a collaborative effort.

Technologies, particularly those in IT and communication, have widened the scope of collaboration. Today,

collaboration includes virtual workgroups that bring people together virtually via telephone, email or

videoconference, essentially reducing distance and enhancing the experience of physical interaction. Storage

technologies together with relational databases and file systems have created a new context to the meaning of

collaboration - that of sharing or reuse.

Dispersed departments use collaboration technologies to share a presentation or a document. With the use ofversioning, they are able to simultaneously work on the same draft versions without duplicating efforts and at the

same time utilizing resources that can even be globally interspersed. Thus , technologies give collaboration anew meaning by reducing time and space barriers to bring people together delivering additional value to

businesses.

Technology-enabled collaboration today has evolved beyond the workgroup of individuals and has garnered

interest from corporations, researchers, technology vendors and even governments. For instance, modern

democratic governance models envision citizenry virtually participating through referendums in policy making.

Medical doctors seek to work in virtual collaborative teams when faced with critical choices. Educators havelong experimented with virtual classrooms and build avenues to get education across to the masses.

In industry, which will be our focus, collaboration has evoked interest in business-to-business as well as

business-to-consumer areas. For example, customer service manufacturers are finding new ways of reaching

out to their customers by fielding support and service networks that maintain constant contact with the customer.

Collaborative business designs, where suppliers and manufacturers collaborate in supply chain and

collaborative product design processes involve people, processes and technology across multiple organizations

working on the same business, is becoming common. With globalization and more outsourcing happening, there

is a wider realization of the benefits of separating a companys core and context in business. The increasing

trend is to let experts handle the contextual part of a companys business while building its core business.

Designers and manufacturers are looking for greater integration of their respective processes to improve time to

market and so on. These trends are largely responsible for renewed interest in collaboration.

1.2 Defining CollaborationIt is evident that collaboration assumes a new sense of purpose because of the role of technologies in its

evolution. Most of the existing definitions of technology-enabled collaboration, as is widely understood, still has


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to do with getting people to work together virtually in paperless offices or workgroups in what is termed as

workgroup collaboration . We find that new technologies have helped collaboration assume a new purpose in the

context of running day-to-day business operations especially in the enterprise. Increasingly the maturity of

automation in collaborative efforts especially in areas like transaction processing and process automation is

eliminating the need of human intervention. Collaboration in the business context therefore becomes

meaningless without attributing a role to technology in the collaborative process.

The use of the term collaboration in a context devoid of technologies still exists. We ascribe to the validity of

such use. However, for the purpose of research, it is imperative that we arrive at a definition for technology-

enabled collaboration when used in the context of the enterprise applications in business.

The absence of a suitable definition for collaboration that encapsulates both the people dimensions as well as

the business dimension of technology-enabled collaboration is evident from our literature review. The quest of

finding one has been challenging and the need is evident. Ideal collaboration is about enabling people, process

and technology to work seamlessly in a business. The closest definition we could arrive at from our survey of

associated literature could be articulated as follows:

Enterprise Collaboration deals with the partnering of activities, knowledge and assets by multiple stakeholders in

a dynamic environment with the objective of gaining a business advantage.

Collaboration technologies facilitate the integration of knowledge and work products of an interacting

shareholder group using a common infrastructure.

1.3 Other Definitions of CollaborationConcours Group: Collaboration is working together with the intention to create something new, which is

superior to what any one entity could have created alone. Collaboration creates synergy, where the value of the

whole is greater than the sum of parts.

Gartner: Collaborative commerce or c-commerce involves the collaborative, electronically enabled business

interactions among an enterprise's internal personnel, business partners and customers throughout a trading

community. The trading community can be an industry, an industry segment, or a supply chain or supply chain

segment. For some enterprises, c-commerce is already a fact of business life, but how can they measure it? It is

not yet quantifiable with any consistency. It is not a class of software and it is difficult even to define.

IBMs e-collaboration: e-collaboration leverages the connective powers of the Internet to coordinate the efforts

of two or more companies. Using e-collaborative capabilities, partners can operate as a single business entity.

They can make joint decisions and focus on adding value for their customers. The rewards for all participantsare simple but profound: higher revenues and reduced costs. For example, e-collaboration might enable

manufacturers and their suppliers to do business differently. Instead of traditional vertical supply and demand

chains, trading partners might form value networks with horizontal connections. A supplier might link to a

retailer's consumer sales tracking system and use that knowledge to help the retailer maintain optimal inventory

levels enabling shared knowledge and joint decision-making.


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Forrester Research: Dynamic collaboration is win-win partnerships that share business activities across a

network of allies.

1.4 Levels of Enterprise CollaborationThere are four possible levels of collaboration depending on the complexity and maturity of the collaborative

process:

Information level (or transactional collaboration): sharing of data and information e.g. prices, inventory

data, logistics data, business performance data, design data, etc.

Systems level: sharing of applications, source code, software, middleware, databases and repositories,

hardware, etc.

Process level: sharing parts of a procurement process, inventory management process, supply chain

processes, product design processes, etc.

Relationship level: sharing of contextual competencies e.g. tire manufacturing with automobile design,

outsourcing context. The highest level of maturity at this level will be to exhibit dynamic collaboration

capabilities wherein enterprises are able to identify partners and work with them electronically.

An enterprise can be at any of these levels of maturity for its collaboration initiatives. Fundamentally, since

information level collaboration standards are mature and stable, technologies are capable of seamlessly

integrating and interfacing with information artifacts across the enterprise and outside. In fact, email, browser

technologies and portals are the best examples of seamless, information-based collaboration at work. This

works irrespective of the platform and technologies that are used to retrieve information. Information level

collaboration today is mature and pervasive, especially with the Internet being commonplace.

However, that is not true for transaction level or system collaboration or even process level collaboration. Not

just because technologies lack maturity but also because there are several components like process maturityand organization design that has to work together to effect such collaboration. Above all, such collaboration

should make ample business sense to investors. In many enterprises, we see that a number of transactional

areas, such as traditional order processing and replenishment, are being replaced by automated transactional

and process collaboration.

We believe that relationship level of collaboration at the enterprise level is the ultimate point that enterprises can

reach with collaboration technologies. However, the complexity of achieving this is manifold because it requires

newer attributes for exhibiting relationship behavior such as trust and security that the collaborative environment

has to inherently demonstrate (Fig 1).


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Figure 1 : Infosys Enterprise Evolution Model is built on increasing collaborative capability of enterprises. A Level 4

enterprise will have advanced externally focused technologies, highly optimized processes and extremely flexible

organization design as opposed to a Level 1 company, which just about automates task and information.

Source: SETLabs Research

1.5 Goals of CollaborationHaving defined enterprise collaboration and the levels of collaboration, the goals and end objectives of

collaboration become clearer. In our understanding, there are two main objectives, which are targeted in anycollaborative effort: 1) integration of people, process and technology, and 2) superior communication and

synchronization

Integration of people, process and technology: Any collaborative effort would aim at bringing integration

between people and processes, people and technology, and technology and processes. Strategic

integration of business processes with enterprise-wide systems and people forms the crux of

collaboration giving rise to human cooperation as well as business-technology co-operation resulting in

active participation with customers, and better execution of business partner relationships.

Superior communication and synchronization: The other outcome of collaboration is more accurate,

frequent, and two-way or multiple-way communication across all company locations, better information

exchange with partners, enhanced knowledge management, and improved external communications to

the customer base and the market at large. This results in better synchronization of all activities in the

organization.


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22 .. MMooddee ss oof f ccoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn There are broadly three modes of collaboration based on implementation:

Tactical and Strategic Collaboration

Synchronous (Real-time) and Asynchronous Collaboration

Internal and External Collaboration (i.e. with respect to the enterprise)

2.1 Tactical and Strategic CollaborationThis classification of enterprise collaboration depends on its role in the enterprise:

Tactical collaboration to improve operational /business efficiency (for short-term business benefits)

Strategic collaboration to differentiate businesses and build barriers to competition (for long-term

business benefits)

2.2 Synchronous and Asynchronous CollaborationThe distinction between synchronous and asynchronous collaboration is distinctive. In some cases, the

collaborative process requires very quick feedback from other participants. These instances are normally

classified as synchronous collaboration. Examples are teller applications in Internet banking or real-time

information management application for a stock broking firm. Synchronous collaboration is essentially defined

as multiple users/devices collaborating at the same time or near realtime. In other cases, the turnaround is

hours or days. Examples are batch processing of sales data from remote locations updated periodically based

on reports. Though most systems are built for asynchronous collaboration, wherein participants do not respond

immediately, synchronous collaboration or, more accurately, real-time collaboration is an emerging trend.

2.3 Internal and External CollaborationInternal collaboration involves rationalization and integration of corporate business processes in order to

improve services, increase efficiency, lower costs and to integrate with the marketplace. Internal collaboration is

more than implementation of technology such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship

management (CRM) or supply chain management (SCM) software. In reality, few companies have sufficiently

changed the ways they operate to capitalize on the full potential of internal process collaboration.

The differentiation between internal and external collaboration is simple. Internal collaboration improves

processes within business units so that there is minimal latency between executions of sequential tasks that

make up an internal process. At one level of internal collaboration, business units band together to achieve

economies of scale in procurement or transportation and ultimately reduce the cost for the enterprise as a

whole. Achievement of further saving and growth requires economies of scale or scope beyond business unit

boundaries. Another approach to external collaboration is to link processes such as product development and

manufacturing across business partners to reduce cycle time or develop new customer offerings.

Internal collaboration is more difficult than external collaboration. Major obstacles for internal collaboration

include organizational, managerial or political barriers. These have to do with loyalties to process design or


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systems implementation. Outside the corporation, market place and customer power set the rules and

increasingly dictate the basis of collaboration. External collaboration cannot precede internal collaboration in

most collaboration scenarios (Fig 2.)

Figure 2 : External collaboration may not be successful without internal collaboration in place


2.4 Other Ways of Differentiating Collaboration Global vs. Regional based on time zones, regulations, culture, etc.

Active vs. Passive who waits and who initiates?

One-way vs. Two-way vs. Multi-way (point-to-point vs. many-to-many)

Distributed vs. Centralized

Persistent vs. Ephemeral stored or merely forwarded?

Private vs. Group vs. Public


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3.1 Shift from Ownership to PartnershipDuring the 1990s, cross-border direct investment dominated the corporate world, and decision makers believed

that an acquisition is essential in the new market they wanted to enter. In recent times, there has been a rethink

in the trends wherein ownerships is often seen as a liability overshadowing return on investments. A widely

adopted strategic means is to quickly create alliances with strategic partners rather than acquiring them.

Boardrooms are convinced of the need to collaborate but their deliberation is more on whom to collaborate with,

rather than why to collaborate. Consequently, business collaboration is proliferating across and within industries

rather than cocooning themselves within highly competitive environments.

Making the case for collaboration are factors such as the need to faster access to new markets, products,

processes and technologies, leverage globalization, reduce time to market, increase resource sharing, and

speed. Trends are evident particularly in pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, Monsanto, Pfizer, etc., where

building networks of alliances with thousands of partners is a norm. RDBMS magnate Oracle has approximately15,000 business alliances.

A drastic shift from ownership favoring collaboration also results from the flexibility partnership offers. It is less

taxing on the regulations front, integration issues does arise so also partnerships are less risky compared to

buyout deals. Most importantly, they also enable individuals to maintain their independent market and brand

identity.

3.2 Trust Built between Trading Partners Another key driver for a successful collaborative partnership would be the extension of trust built between

trading partners that facilitate transparency in operations as a pre-requisite to building enterprises around

collaborative networks. Leveraging existing partnerships and new technologies that secure networks allow the

sharing of information and business processes resulting in trading partners being able to operate a business

process seamlessly, interactively and dynamically without the fear of risks.

3.3 Information TechnologyLow cost and ease of the Internet infrastructure is one of the key drivers for collaborative commerce. It is

interesting that Internet had its beginning as an application for collaboration as it evolved as an offshoot of a

document-based collaboration project (for sharing and annotating research artifacts on-line in a virtual group) atCERN laboratory. Besides the Internet, over the years, the cost of data interchange has been falling primarily

because of increased deployment and demand for communication infrastructure. A faster rate of technology

adoption in data transfer domains has led to a decline in cost of technology ownership.

By leveraging the Internet, a company saves on transmission costs compared to sending data over a private

data network such as a Value Added Network (VAN). It is not just about connectivity alone; it is about richer


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information networks like the Internet stifled inter-departmental and inter-enterprise integration. Though

networking technologies such as FDDI, ATM and Frame Relay enabled campus-wide resource sharing, their

proprietary leanings restricted them to only a few privileged people in the enterprise. True enterprise-wide

collaboration in its rudimentary form came about only with intranets and extranets with direct benefits of a low

cost infrastructure (Fig 4.)

Figure 4 : Convergence of technologies is building a global collaboration platform. However, the dotted ellipse

represents greatest impact for the evolution of collaboration technologies


Interestingly, the absence of openness in network standards in yesteryears not only lowered integration

opportunities but also fuelled the buildup of vertically integrated applications within enterprises. Applications fordepartmental productivity such as MRP (manufacturing resource planning) and financial accounting solutions

were further developed without a view of horizontal integration. A case in point would be the evolution of ERP

applications (1990s). These were built over 15 years, but did not have customer or partner interfaces until the

late 90s. The ERP story demonstrates dependence and an interesting correlation between infrastructure and

integration technologies.

Today, few applications are built without a view of its potential use in an integrated scenario. For example, an

email program written in the future would have both wireless and wire line connectivity, and a browser would

possibly have database access or data replication features in a wireless environment.

The role of interactive technologies in this trinity is new and essentially articulates the human controls (e.g.

decisions) in the enterprise. The role of interactive technologies is only emerging.

We expect very few applications in the future would be written without device independence, accessibility, or

mobility in. Consideration. According to Peter Tandler of GMD, in ubiquitous computing, as multiple users could

be working with different devices, the collaboration architecture will have to support flexible, mobile and dynamic


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BUSINESSEVOLUTION

InformationNetworks

Process Networks Business Networks

BUSINESSSTRATEGY

Selective partnering Outsourcing &globalization

Dynamic partnering

OPERATINGSTRATEGY

Alignment of valuechains

Synchronization ofvalue chains

Real time value chainconfiguration

CORE AND CONTEXTDIFFRENTIATION Fuzzy view of core.ERP orientedsoftware design.

Process leveldifferentiation of core.E.g. customer serviceoutsourced

Increaseddifferentiation betweencore and context.Outsource everythingelse.

ROLL OFTECHNOLOGY

Push or pullinformation

Synchronize multipletransactions

Seek find bind

APPROACH TOINNOVATION

Pre-determined.Premeditated

Inter processarticulation for pre-empted scenarios

Manage Discontinuity.Build for change

PERFORMANCEMEASUREMENTS

Lagging metrics Real time metrics. Leading metrics.

Figure 6 : Businesses have evolved over the years to accept technology as a strategic change agent


3.3.3 Emergence of XML as the De facto Data Transport

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to create common information formats on the Web,

intranets, and other networks, and can be used by any individual or group of individuals or companies that

wants to share information in a consistent way.

The use of XML for exchanging data between different application systems in business-to-business

collaboration enables a host of new relationships between companies, vendors, suppliers and customers.Exporting data from application suites and developer tools using XML is becoming standardized. XML will have

a major impact on catalog vendors.

Proprietary catalog systems will be dropped in favor of industry standards based on XML. XMLs advantage

comes from its tagging characteristics that creates self-identifying data structures and helps companies with

different commerce applications communicate with one another.

3.3.4 Complementary Role of Web Services to EAI as a New Approach to Middleware

EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) and Web services are current and future approaches to integrating

disparate systems, which do not share common vocabulary. They work as translators between two systems built

differently. EAI has reduced the time necessary to develop solutions that integrate multiple applications from

multiple vendors. However, the trouble with EAI technologies is that they focus on data-level integration rather

than application-level integration, which is essential to provide a service flavor to integration. Web Services are

currently thought of as a solution that complement current EAI technologies as a middleware for internal

integration in the enterprise and assume external integration roles when its security concerns are addressed.


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Fundamentally, the difference between conventional EAI and Web Services lie in the fact that conventional EAI

does not create generic, flexible processes that enable reuse. On the other hand, Web services inherit several

advantages that service-oriented architectures have over middleware approaches, foremost of which is

flexibility. Though existing EAI applications have been quite successful in point-to-point integration, their

complexity and high costs have always been a major hindrance to the progress of integration. Existing EAI

solutions tend to be complex and expensive to implement because they rely on proprietary technology that is

expensive to acquire, operate and maintain.

Web services are building blocks that enable collaboration. The role of Web Services is becoming prominent in

collaborative scenarios. The heightened interest is because of its component characteristics and its usage that

makes it easier to develop, deploy and manage in a collaborative environment.


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44 .. IImmppaa cc tt oof f aa uuttoommaa ttiioonn oonn ccoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn The key achievement of IT is in the impact it has had on the way machines and humans interact. From a

technology point of view, the last two decades have seen a shift from PC-centric computing to network-centric

computing, changing the way people depended on computers. In the 1980s, PCs were used for personal

productivity. In the 90s, people collaborated with each other using a workgroup environment characterized by

the use of computers as intermediaries.

Post 2000, we are witnessing collaboration being extended to the enterprise level over a collaborative

environment defined by the Internet and application integration. What we are seeing is a change in our

dependence on computers. We are letting computers in one enterprise talk to computers in another. In other

words, we are empowering computers to articulate relationships. IT is being used to demarcate the boundaries

of mundane tasks (by allowing machines to automate them) and decision-making (which are human

dependant).

Essentially, automation initiatives are being segmented into those that deal with empowering machines and

those that deal with empowering people depending on the task versus decision ratios in a business process. In

our view, the future of interactive technology research will focus on decision support systems to improve the

collaboration of human minds and computers in a virtual world; and unlike infrastructure and integration

technologies, maturity is a long way off.

4.1 Automated TransactionsCharacterized by transactional level automation such as in Internet banking or in B2B applications, functionally

automated transactions are concerned with automating a collaborative task that was done manually previously.

For example, searching through a catalog and placing an order can now be automated with the help of Web

technologies aligned to certain sets of business rules. At an advanced level, automation can involve scanning of

a vendors website for updated pricing information that can be fed into an internal system, which then triggers off

a number of other routines.

4.2 Automated Processes Automated processes are characterized by capabilities that handle multiple sets of transactions involving a

sequence and conditional routines. An example would be auto-replenishment process in a retail chain where

systems track inventory levels of a product at showroom locations. When a shortfall appears, the application

sifts through a possible set of actions to determine the most profitable process for replenishment. Theapplication listens to a continuous feed of product pricing from numerous suppliers to settle on the best price

and check for availability among its suppliers. Once matches are obtained, the system can be programmed to

place purchase orders as well as arrange for shipment automatically. Advanced systems also employ a

combination of human intervention and escalation mechanisms.


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4.3 Automated ServicesRelatively newer technologies and standards like XML, BPML and Web Services are instrumental in evolving a

new paradigm wherein services can be automated with high levels of quality. Such systems incorporate

automation at multiple layers of interactivity and integration, making it appear to user as if there is a seamless

process running at the back-end. These sets of applications find tremendous use at kiosks and services like

ticketing. For example, when a corporation makes a travel booking, the website where it books its air ticket

would also be able to throw up hotel and taxi services for the trip that meets the user criterion without having a

hard wired linkage. These capabilities are possible because hotel and taxi services are available as Web

Services that can be called in based on a set of agreed criteria articulated through standards based

technologies. These technologies can associate a user specification and can scout for matches on the Web

from service providers.


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5.6 Increased PerformanceBy improving speed, quality and flexibility, companies are able to enhance performance and achieve economies

of scale as well as optimize asset and resource utilization at all levels.


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66 .. EEnnttee r r ppr r iiss ee A Apppplliiccaa ttiioonn oof f ccoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn

6.1 B2B and B2C CollaborationOnline commerce is no longer seen as an extension of a companys trading channels or even as an alternate

trading channel. It is assuming a role beyond commerce wherein activities such as leveraging complementary

strengths of multiple companies (B2B) to deliver a unified customer experience or for pure business economics

are becoming commonplace. It is also about leveraging economies of scale, pursuing core competencies and

leveraging the often-untapped potential of customer feedback and customer service. As a result, there is scope

for product and service aggregation at the design/manufacture side as well as at the sell side of an enterprise.

Online collaboration is also affecting consumer (B2C) behavior. In the beginning of online commerce,

consumers looked for online avenues primarily for lower prices than the catalogued prices, a freebie, or to avoid

the bother of the grocery store even though their order fulfillment happened much later than the point of

purchase. More than product categories and prices, a consumer in a collaborative environment would seek

advice, unique product selections and round-the-clock customer service. They also have access to multipleproduct lines and combination of customized services that were previously unavailable. Customer service itself

is evolving into a high value proposition for retaining customers globally for large corporations.

Organizations are able to leverage cost economies of different locations and cultures using collaborative

environments to showcase a seamless customer experience. More examples of B2B and B2C collaboration are

given in the following sections.

6.1.1 Products for B2B Collaboration

Collaboration with channel partners such as resellers and distributors is different from direct consumer

collaboration. Channel partner collaboration is focused on business process sharing where partners are enabled

to share information as well as processes such as order/price/brand management while using documents such

as request for quote/proposal/information and providing information about availability and capability to deliver.

This form of collaboration involves the ability to create co-branded virtual showrooms so that manufacturers and

retailers can work together in supporting the end-consumers' need for products and services. Products such as

Exterprise, iMediation, and InfoNow support the creation of virtual showrooms. These application providers

develop all the integration connections to back-end systems but are having limited success with their current set

of integration capabilities.

6.2 Supply Chain CollaborationThe vision of supply chain management (SCM) evolved with the aim of integrating disparate functions like

forecasting, purchase, manufacture, distribution, sales and marketing into a single continuous process that

envelops the companys suppliers and customers, apart from the company itself. SCM promised to remove

barriers between enterprises, where all participants act in unison to serve the end-customer. It is only over the

last decade that this vision came closer to reality with the adoption of IT that enabled integration and

collaboration among players in the supply chain.


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Some of the key drivers for supply chain collaboration are the following:

Competition is no longer between big and small companies, it is between fast and slow supply chains.

Time-based competition infers that companies supply chains must get the right product to the right place

at the right time.

Efficient and effective supply chains depend on having the right information available to the right person,

at the right time that enable different participants in a supply chain to act in unison, thus achieving

optimization across the supply chain. Organizations would therefore need to get hold of IT to transform

their supply chains, enabling collaboration for information sharing, joint planning and forecasting,

synchronized operations, and fast adaptive response to disruptions.

Usage of IT in enterprises began with automating tasks, with subsequent addition of networking capability. The

consequent ability to exchange information led to automation of transactions. The primary benefits from these

implementations were speed and efficiency. Later, in the 80s and the 90s, the waves of IT rollout within

enterprises coincided with the emphasis on business efficiency and stress on doing the right things (in other

words, effectiveness). Intra-departmental application stovepipes were integrated to enable cross-functional

processes, thus enabling internal collaboration. Here, not only was efficiency improved by use of bestpractices and benchmarking, managers were also able to make tradeoff decisions between departmental

optimizations and practices that would add value to the whole enterprise. These initial lessons learned about the

benefits of collaboration were, however, still restricted to the four walls of the enterprise. Some of the vivid

benefits for a collaborative supply chain are the following:

Reduced operating costs

Integrated performance measures

Single demand plan shared by all network partners

Updated information anywhere in the network

Reduced inventory needs

SCEM (Supply Chain Event Management) is an emerging area where automation has a key role to play.

6.2.1 Products for Procurement

Procurement forms an important part of the supply chain collaboration. Procurement is defined by two or more

organizations working together to procure goods and services in bulk to reduce costs. This collaboration may

occur in a public exchange environment or it can be a private hub where lines of business aggregate their

demand to reduce the costs of finished goods or raw material.

Organizations also collaborate on supplier aggregation models where one organization aggregates the spending

on products to eliminate redundant vendors and purchase in larger lots from one supplier. Software vendors

such as SAP/Commerce One, i2 /Ariba, Exterprise, and Infobank provide the infrastructure components for this

type of collaboration. These vendors will need more time to overcome some of the heavy-duty process

components of many-to-many marketplaces.


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6.2.2 Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)

CPFR is the latest in a series of concepts and initiatives that have emerged, developed, and evolved as part of

an important piece of the SCM puzzle. Todays replenishment techniques have resulted from the contributions

of several initiatives and ideation processes spanning over two decades. Some of these include classic re-order

point min/max systems, productions sales and inventory (PSI), just in time (JIT), just in time II (JIT II), vendor

managed inventory (VMI), distribution resources planning quick response (QR), manufacturing resources

planning (MRP), efficient consumer response (ECR), and jointly managed inventory (JMI), to name a few.

CPFR is a concept that allows collaborative processes across the supply chain, using a set of process and

technology models. The objective of the concept is to establish collaborative processes across the supply chain

that are:

Open yet secure

Flexible across the industry

Extensible to all supply chain processes

Support a broad set of requirements (new data types, interoperability with different DBMSs, etc.)

The vision of the CPFR initiative is closely tied with similar efforts that have preceded it such as ECR, Quick

Response and VMI. One of the key contributors to the CPFR vision is Voluntary Inter-industry Commerce

Standards Association (VICS), a voluntary, nonprofit organization.

VICS takes a global leadership role in the ongoing improvement of the flow of product and product information

throughout the entire supply chain in the general merchandise retail industry. Specifically, the Merchant Issues

Group within VICS has undertaken several improvement initiatives related to general merchandising.

The mission of CPFR development is to improve the partnership between Retailers and Vendor Merchants

through shared information. It hopes to achieve this by providing an environment for dynamic information

sharing, integrating both demand and supply side processes (linking manufacturers, retailers, and carriers), and

effectively planning, forecasting, and replenishing customer needs through the total supply chain.

One of the key steps in promoting dynamic information sharing, identified as part of CPFR, is the development

of a communication infrastructure that enable collaboration among the partners in the supply chain processes.

This infrastructure has three components:

Data content and format of the data that will be shared/communicated

A communication vehicle that support the sharing of the data

Security measures that ensure that the data shared/communicated is secure

VICS is running a pilot in collaboration with Wal-Mart, Lucent Technologies, Sara Lee Corporation, Ernst &

Young LLP, SAP America and Sun Microsystems to addresses the dynamic information sharing that enable

collaboration in the forecasting process. This is based partly on the positive results of an earlier initiative

between Wal-Mart, Warner-Lambert, Benchmarking Partners, SAP and Manugistics. The current pilot effort

extends this past success and involves industry-wide participation, usage of open standards, a broader set of

requirements and systematic integration.


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6.2.2.1 Products for CPFR

CPFR follows a nine-step process on how to collaborate on planning and forecasting. CPFR vendors such as

Demantra, Eqos, i2, IPNet, and Syncra have focused on providing a solution that supports the industry specific

models. Some of the vendors, which have endorsed VICS CPFR, are i2 Technologies, IPNet Solutions, JDA

Software Group, Logility, Manugistics Group, SAP, and Syncra Systems.

6.2.3 Collaborative Transportation Management (CTM)

With shorter planning windows and the universal objective of minimizing inventory in the value chain,

transportation has become a critical opportunity in the process. Today, transportation is reactionary with buyers,

sellers and carriers often in conflict to resolve shipment-level issues.

This produces excess inventory and under-utilized carrier equipment. Sellers and buyers financial performance

is dependent on the treatment of inventory. Often, it is in the process, but its status is unknown or delayed due

to unavailable carrier capacity. Buyers and sellers maintain higher levels of inventory to accommodate these

uncertainties. Another consequence is increased transportation costs that are paid to use secondary carriers,

whose contract rates are not as advantageous as that of primary carriers. Yet another result is the overuse of orexpedited services, with higher costs per unit of shipment, which drive higher transportation costs.

The carrier relationship also affects the operational performance of sellers and buyers. . Physical distribution

workflow is reactive and uneven, yielding increased costs and delays in handling. For example, discrepancies in

purchase order quantities delay the receiving operations. Surprise carrier deliveries convert to wait time for the

carrier, resulting in assessorial fees paid by the buyer or seller, and increased costs and delayed deliveries for

the carrier. CTM aims to eliminate these issues, yielding reduced costs, increased asset utilization, improved

service, increased revenues and improved end-customer satisfaction.

CTM is an independent yet concurrent process with CPFR, building on the same relationships between buyersand sellers and incorporating new information and steps with the carriers. It extends CPFRs end at order

confirmation, and continues through shipment delivery and includes payment to the carrier. Like CPFR, CTM

does not simply replicate what takes place today, but rather reengineers the whole process so that the carrier is

now part of the larger, more focused buyer/seller team.

As stated earlier, CTM can be a complimentary or independent process to CPFR. Although CTM may need

some further refinement with or without CPFR, it does serve as the foundation. In the true sense, CTM affect the

CPFR process model. CTM needs to anticipate, recognize and be able to adapt to the real world changes while

maintaining the carrier relationships.

6.2.3.1 Technology Requirements for CTM

Like CPFR, CTM creates needs for new information and technologies to foster collaboration. Proponents of

CTM (VICS, et al) envision CTM as vendor and platform independent, such that any trading partner entering a

collaborative relationship will not be hindered by technical limitations. Existing technologies such as EDI, Web-

enabled host and client/server applications, as well as traditional paper and phone communications

technologies will prove to be inadequate, but still be useful as foundations for scalable CTM. The following


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technology considerations are explored further to accommodate the goals of vendor and platform

independence:

Standards

Scalability

Security

Openness of design Manageability

Resiliency

Vehicle(s) for collaboration

Data formats

Transport protocols

6.2.3.2 The benefits of CTM

The benefits and power of collaboration extend across the execution chain to buyer, seller and carrier, as each

suffers in the collapse of plans and the scramble to mediate changes. Collaboration in execution improves

competitiveness for all partners by improving communications, strengthening their positions in the market with

agile supply chain execution capabilities. CTM benefit all parties with:

Reduced costs

Increased asset utilization

Improved service levels

Increased revenues

Improved end-customer satisfaction

Increased visibility

6.3 Collaborative Product Development (CPD)The crux of collaborative product design revolves around the need to involve the entire product development

team including customers and suppliers during the development phase when a products most distinctive

characteristics are defined. More participation by team members early in the process sharply reduces the need

for changes later especially during tooling and manufacturing, eliminating delays and potential cost increases.

Product design and development are in the midst of a revolution thanks to collaboration technologies. The tools

used for product design, the process of gathering input and revising designs, and the roles of those in theextended enterprise are all changing. A new generation of online collaboration tools integrated with traditional

CAD is transforming the product development fraternity.

CPD uses two types of collaboration. One is information level collaboration that essentially gets the right

information to the right people at the right time. However, significant savings come from the process level

collaboration where everyone in the product development process participates, sharing and building on one

anothers insights and ideas. New technologies allow people from different companies with incompatible


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computing systems to meet virtually on Web environments. Instead of simply sending data from PC to PC, Web

tools let people talk via their computers while looking at shared documents, carry on e-mail chats, and use

electronic white boards where two or more people can draw pictures or charts, in real-time, as others watch and

respond.

There is also scope for real-time collaboration using the Web. Here, product development team members in

different locations can add definition to the same product model at the same time and share work automaticallyand instantaneously with others. With a Web-native, real-time collaboration application, manufacturers can

leverage extended product teams that include everyone from design and manufacturing engineers to sales and

marketing team, suppliers, and customers.

The benefits of such collaboration are all encompassing. Using the collaborative platform to optimize

communications, schedule and to resource usage, manufacturers can significantly reduce the cycle time to bring

new products to market. They can zero in on solutions for design and production challenges quickly, reducing

costs. By exploring design alternatives together, team members can leapfrog to truly innovative solutions. CPD

is in demand because of its potential to cut product development cycle times.

CPD solutions are largely used by the industry to achieve reduced manufacturing costs (lower business travel

expenses related with product development), reduced document production and shipping costs, shortened

product development cycles (reduced engineering change order processing time), increased innovation, higher

productivity, faster time to market and better communication. Giga estimates that in many cases, CPD solutions

reduce product-development related travel expenses by 50-80% and document production and shipping costs

by 90%.

CPD software and services cover key solutions such as product sourcing solutions, after-sales service and

support, computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering, and manufacturing process management

software. CPD functionality include: Management of projects and programs

Management of portfolio

Interaction with suppliers

Shared visualization

Collaboration tools

Workflow

Product data management (PDM)

Measurement of process improvement

It is interesting to note that in the current market, no single vendor offers comprehensive functionality in the

areas identified above. Instead, large vendors have to rely on their business partners to cover broad solutions,

while others offer point solutions that could be integrated together in a best-of-breed fashion. Broad solutions

have the advantage of lower implementation cost and promise integration with other enterprise applications

such as ERP, human resource management, manufacturing resource planning, etc. In the other case,


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formally presented and transferred in a highly efficient and convenient manner, enabling people to

integrate training and education with their day-to-day work responsibilities.

Communities of practice comprise people who engage in similar work practices. While these people may

work either as teams or within different organizational units, they have a common need to capture, share,

and leverage their collective knowledge related to that practice.

Enterprise knowledge management refers to the need of an entire organization to share and leverage

knowledge among and across different knowledge communities and organizational units.

The management of organizational knowledge is fundamental to effective performance, and collaboration

technologies play a central role here. Effectively applying collaboration technologies for knowledge management

requires fitting the richness and interactivity of the communication mode to the degree of shared contextual

knowledge.

Collaboration technologies may also be useful to help structure or coordinate interaction to maximize learning

and sharing among a community by automating particular communication techniques or rituals.

Therefore, in cases where knowledge can be explicitly encoded and recorded, or where interpretive context iswell-shared, collaboration technologies play a central role in its acquisition, combination, interpretation, and

dissemination. Where knowledge is primarily tacit, these technologies support the personal interaction required

for its sharing, creation and explication.

Collaboration technologies, employed in this manner, can be used to develop knowledge maps that identify key

sources of expertise or databases with pointers to important content.

6.4.1 Role of Collaborative Technologies in Knowledge Management Solutions

The technologies that organizations use to coordinate collaborative KM services with other KM elements

include:

Search: Companies increasingly rely on sophisticated enterprise search engines, which increase in value with

each additional content source searched. Given the valuable data generated by most collaboration systems, the

ability to search collaborative content for variety of content is critical (e.g., a team room dedicated to a topic vs. a

topic document). Search results eventually will include presence of information alongside document authors and

experts identified by the search engine.

Taxonomy management: Taxonomy services define and compile categories of corporate content and

provide a valuable mechanism for content discovery. Taxonomy services are, therefore, made richer by

the ability to categorize collaborative content. Expertise location: Many organizations will be investing in expertise location services during the next

several years to improve access to appropriate human resources and to reduce redundant research and

activities. Collaborative content is a rich source of expertise that can disclose undocumented and

unacknowledged areas of specialization. Therefore, IT groups must ensure that collaborative content is

exposed to expertise location services.


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Document management: In some cases, companies may want to store documents in a document

management system to take advantage of versioning and library services, yet also have these

documents included in team folders or other collaborative containers. In these situations, organizations

may want relevant collaboration services (e.g., Teamware) to be able to use corporate document

management systems as a content store. Similarly, companies may want collaboration services nested

directly in a document management system. Increased requirements for collaborative content to comply

with governmental regulations also favor integration with document management systems.

Portals: By definition, portals typically aggregate content and processes for shared-interest communities.

Therefore, collaboration services become a natural way to increase portal value by facilitating dialog

among participants. We believe there will be large efficiency payoffs from the portal/collaboration

combination, which means organizations must ensure that portal and collaboration investments are

aligned.

e-learning: e-learning initiatives (e.g., interactive Web-based courses) increasingly use collaborative

services (e.g., discussion databases, application sharing, polling). To eliminate redundancy,

organizations should ensure that enterprise collaboration tools are the same as the tools used in e-learning services.


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7.3 Deployment ConsiderationsFrom a technology perspective, deployment considerations of collaborative solutions can be looked at from

three angles: Infrastructure deployment, operations management and application development.

7.3.1 Infrastructure Deployment

A state-of-the-art collaborative infrastructure leverages existing infrastructure in the enterprise such as security,

directory services, operating systems, databases, etc., as much as possible.

A collaboration architecture strategy will include the relationship between collaboration tools and infrastructure

components, with the goal being exploitation of existing infrastructure that includes:

Middleware for database access, transaction support and messaging

Application server for collaboration service delivery

Mobile server for pervasive collaboration services

Directory for identity management, authentication/authorization, and provisioning

Security for encryption, authentication, and non-repudiation, particularly for extranet activity

Standardized database and operating system as basic infrastructure building blocks

7.3.2 Operations Management

Managing collaboration efficiently will require an extension of existing operational practices. To promote

efficiency, burgeoning investments in collaboration technology must be properly coordinated with corporate

infrastructure investments and operational practices. The essential operational areas that need to be aligned to

collaboration needs include:

Uptime: Collaboration tools will require virus protection, denial-of-service protection and spam filtering

Backup and disaster recovery: Collaboration being a strategic component for business, storage, archivalservices and disaster recovery must be extended to collaboration services.

Software distribution and configuration management: Corporate support should be extended for

collaboration systems

Management and administration: Ideally, collaboration tools should have Web-based management

services, enterprise consoles and single-seat administration for additions, deletions and other changes.

7.3.3 Application Development

Enterprise architectures are evolving to embrace more granular components and facilitate re-use. These are

holding out to usher in the era of Web Services. Consequently, developer tools will follow to enable a new class

of collaborative solutions that have a service orientation rather than a monolithic character. From various

emerging trends, the following can be considered the key deployment elements from the collaboration

perspective:

Web Services ultimately will be the primary mechanism for exposure and consumption of collaboration

services, with SOAP becoming the default communication protocol. Therefore, from an application


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development perspective, the most critical consideration is to ensure that collaboration services can be

invoked via Web Services and that development tools and personnel have the capabilities to do so.

User interfaces need to invoke collaboration services within an application. This is crucial, because the

greatest return on collaboration investments come when collaborative services are included in business

applications and portals.

Interoperability of applications and third party solutions has to be ensured so that organizations can use

existing enterprise collaboration services rather then introduce proprietary collaboration services. System

integrators and independent software vendors are expected to include collaborative services in business

applications.

These dynamics underscore the requirement to consider application development toolsets and skills as

part of long-term collaboration strategies and architectures.

7.3.4 Other Deployment Considerations Market influences

Relative advantage Task and organizational complexity

Size of the organization

Owner structure and external stakeholders interests

Communication costs

Adoption costs

Geographical dispersion

Existing and future relationships with customers and partners

Strategic importance of collaboration Existing use of technology

Level of heterogeneity in platforms

Level of IT maturity

Technological incompatibility

Stability and performance

Trust in the technology

Functionality

Affinity towards change

7.3.5 High-level Enterprise Architecture View

Based on the above trends, a high-level, conceptual enterprise architecture will emerge as represented in Fig. 7.

Both business performance architecture and process architecture will be the new additions from many a

common architecture designs prevalent today. There will also be the emergent role of a collaboration server,

which manages the efficient execution of collaboration services.


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Figure 7 : The next generation enterprise Architecture



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8.1 Characteristics of a Collaborative Enterprise A collaborative enterprise is externally focused with most of the attention on the integration of customers and

business partners over and above their own internal processes. Hence, in addition to CRM, supplier relationship

management (SRM) will be an important facet in business priorities. Some of the other characteristics are

enumerated below:

8.1.1 Internal Processes Tailored for Extra-Enterprise Applications

A collaborative framework demands transparency between the customer and the partner, requiring the internal

processes to be tailored to meet that need. The characteristic capabilities of a collaborative enterprise include

advanced personalization, industry specific e-processes and optimized CRM. The era will be the consolidation

phase for the now emerging transparencies brought about by user-friendly Web interfaces and their automated

back-ends.

8.1.2 Governed by New Economy Rules

Emerging new economy rules will have a lasting impact on collaboration. For instance, in the new economy,

intellectual assets have already replaced physical assets as the basis for the competitive edge. Similarly,

ubiquitous networks will catalyze the creation of efficient business designs that challenge established firms,

which are deep seated in time-honored business practices. Collaborative enterprises have their dependencies

characterized by a concentration of activities around:

Relationships rather than transactions

Adaptive offerings rather than fixed offerings Shared value infrastructure rather than value chains

Personalized marketing rather than segmented marketing

8.2 Challenges to CollaborationThe collaborative commerce environment is built around customer focus, value added networks, trust and

relationships between collaborating enterprises. The challenges to ensure these are varied. They include:

8.2.1 Externalizing Automation

Though enterprises already implement certain aspects of automation in their internal transactions, automation

for collaboration requires it to bring in the complex chain of business relationships. What automation should do

in the collaborative enterprise environment is primarily externalizing internal process automation of the

enterprise to the partner/customer in most cases. Automation must therefore also happen at the customer or

partner location as well.


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Functionally, for example, this would mean that instead of a manual process of scanning vendor websites for

updated pricing information, customers automatically receive pricing updates in formats tailored and fed to their

internal systems. Customer resident applications can then act on updated data and perform actions based on

predetermined business rules.

Another example for demonstrating the functionality of an automated collaborative enterprise solution is a

business application monitoring in-house inventory. When inventory levels for a product falls, the applicationsorts through possible actions to determine the most profitable process for replenishment. The program draws

on a continuous feed of product pricing among its suppliers to determine the best price and availability. The

system might even split the order, processing an immediate shipment of product at a higher price to fill the

immediate inventory shortfall, followed by the remainder of the order placed at a lower price with a vendor who

can deliver the product later.

The challenge for collaborating enterprises is to ensure that their systems are able to share and automate such

processes. For some companies, their internal collaborating systems may be in order, but building the external

collaboration will pose the challenge.

8.2.2 Evolution of a Digital Equivalent of Trust

Trust between organizations has been a human dependant factor in the old economy. As business relationships

become more complex and automated, human interfaces will have a minimal role to play in transactions. This

would give organizations the advantages of doing away with the role of human interfaces in routine and

mundane transactions and re-deploy the same skills in relationship building rather than in processing

transactions.

In real terms, e-trust can happen only with the maturing of encryption technologies and secure frameworks that

protect enterprises and customers from security risks. Collaborative commerce being an evolving paradigm isthus taking its time to build the digital equivalent of trust. The critical challenge for technologists will be to meet

the need of collaborating organizations that would ride on evolved authentication techniques far superior to the

current formulations.

8.2.3 Balancing Privacy and Security Concerns

The tussle between e-business characteristics, privacy principles, and security needs has reached new

dimensions where trust, behavior monitoring, data confidentiality, personalization, dynamic authorization and

anonymity are questioned on a routine basis. Collaboration requires access to partners internal systems.

However, the question of how much access is still unanswered. Vendors also have to divulge information muchthe same way a customer does in the collaborative enterprise.

8.2.4 Consortium Development between Communities

Internet businesses in its evolution have created virtual communities comprising people with common interests

and preferences. Today, they may be characterized by their ability to interact and share ideas. There will be

significant power shifts favoring such communities. Tomorrow they could turn into a force that could dictate


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prices, quality standards and even specification of goods sold and bought on the Internet. Todays virtual

communities could turn out into a force that corporations have to reckon with akin to the trade unions of the

industrial age. Some of these virtual communities form strong consumer forces on e-marketplaces adding

additional pressure on collaborating enterprises.

8.2.5 Internal Challenges

The fundamental problem of collaboration is the fragmentation created by functional silos and organizational

boundaries. Large companies are divided into numerous business units, each with potentially different

populations of employees who are differentiated only by the type or location of their jobs, not necessarily by

goals and outcomes of the parent corporation. In extreme cases, the individual units work in isolation where

loyalties are to their leaders, and culture, compensation, and hierarchy reinforces this identity. These forces

combine to undermine the efforts of collaboration. Working together with other business units often runs counter

to fundamental instincts of self-preservation and career advancement. Having to adopt policies counter to your

self-interest for the good of the whole is an anathema.

In research conducted by Ernst & Young, a question posed was, What is the greatest barrier to supply chaincollaboration? About 70% of the respondents, who were a mix of business unit leaders and CIOs, responded,

we are. This indicates a dire need to consider human factors of collaboration and implement the basics for a

good human-to-human collaboration into an automated or a semi-automated collaboration system. Looking at

mergers and acquisitions for the year 2001, Morgan Stanley estimated an unrecovered US $500 billion worth of

premium in the price that corporations paid for acquisitions savings lost when economies of scale and

operational synergies were not achieved.


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11 00 .. RRoollee oof f HHUUMM A ANN FF A ACCTTOORRSS iinn ccoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn Group dynamics impact the effectiveness of information technology in any collaborative systems, especially

when people are involved. Norms and readiness to change influence the acceptance of these types of systems.

Phasing in technology and providing successful experiences enhance the benefits and speed of adoption for IT.

There is a critical mass factor for networked people and appropriate technology that influences the success of

IT in collaborative work in an organization. Some of the human factors issues in implementing a successful

collaborative system are listed below:

10.1 Usage-Centered Design As with all user interaction design, the method used for designing a collaboration system is more significant than

specific design suggestions. It is best to start by gaining a solid understanding of the prospective users, what

their goals are, and how they go about their work through field studies. The goal is to understand a particular

type of group or organization that will be using the system; the objective is to identify the users' tasks and goals,

understand how the group communicates and determines the power structures and roles. It is also important tounderstand individual, interpersonal and group perspectives, common purpose of the collaboration, roles of the

participants in the collaboration (e.g. mover, follower, opposer, supporter, bystander, facilitator) norms,

processes and the deliverables. A number of different studies can be conducted: interviews, surveys, analysis of

artifacts used in the work process, examination of processes and workflows, etc. A design is also best informed

by conducting user studies on system prototypes.

10.2 Adoption and Acceptance Any collaborative work systems simply cannot be successful unless a critical mass of users chooses to use the

system. Two of the most common reasons for failing to achieve critical mass are lack of interoperability and lackof appropriate individual benefit. Interoperability is achieved through standardization. The user perceived benefit

could be achieved with a combination of social pressure to enforce the use of the system (as in having the boss

insist that it's used) and through understanding ways to make sure the application is perceived as useful for

individuals even outside the context of full group adoption.

The system should implement the five stages of collaborative or group development, namely forming, norming,

storming, performing and adjourning. In the Forming stage, personal relations are characterized by dependence.

The major task functions also concern orientation. Rules of behavior seem to be to keep things simple and to

avoid controversy. Serious topics and feelings are avoided. The next stage, which Bruce Tuckman calls

Storming , is characterized by competition and conflict in the personal-relations dimension and organization in

the task-functions dimension. As the group members attempt to organize the task, conflict inevitably results in

their personal relations. In the Norming stage, interpersonal relations are characterized by cohesion. Group

members are engaged in active acknowledgment of all the members contributions, community building and

maintenance and solving of group issues. The major task function of stage three is the data flow between group

members. In the Performing stage, group members capacity, range, and depth of personal relations expand to

true interdependence. In this stage, people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal


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facility. Their roles and authorities dynamically adjust to the changing needs of the group and individuals.

Tuckmans final stage, Adjourning , involves the termination of task behaviors and disengagement from

relationships.

10.3 Support for Appropriate Communication StructureCommunication between people is typically highly structured, and can be classified as technologically mediated

communication (where the system determines exactly how the conversation is structured) and socially-mediated

communication (where individuals decide whether to respond, how to respond, and who to respond to). When

the type of structure is known, systems can take advantage of the structure to speed up communications and

minimize errors. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages and it is important to anticipate the range of

communication possibilities. A reasonable compromise between the two possibilities is to make a collaborative

system aware of the common structure of communication so that it can make common communication tasks

more straightforward (e.g. by providing a "quick send" button that routes a message to the appropriate person),

but insure that any kind of message can be sent regardless. Thus, the communication is technologically

facilitated but not technologically enforced.

10.4 Customization and GroundingWhen groups are working together with the same information, they may individually desire customized views.

The challenge of customized views is to support grounding: the establishment of a common ground or shared

understanding of the information known and shared between the different users. The challenge becomes more

critical in the case of ubiquitous computing where the customized information may have to be presented on

different sized displays. It is important to distinguish between private and shared information, to maintain

consistency of the data, and to avoid spurious or irreconcilable differences.

10.5 Decision Making ControlProper control-session and floor control is critical for successful collaboration. Session control allows users to

enter or leave a collaborative space at a given time. Floor control involves what you get to do once you are

inside the collaborative space. Floor control decides what kind of access each person has to shared-artifacts.

Simultaneous access by everyone to everything is often preferred for the most fluid conversation, but it can be

vulnerable (especially with a large number of people) to just a single non-cooperative person. The advantages

of providing some kind of mediated access include preventing mistakes, preventing unauthorized access, and

avoiding people making conflicting changes.

10.6 AwarenessIn addition to explicit communication, several collaborative work situations benefit from implicit communication

such as indirect gestures, information about people's environment or biographical information about people in

collaboration. This information helps people to establish common ground, coordinate their activities, and helps

avoid surprises. Awareness information takes many forms and can be designed for letting others know, for


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11 11 .. A Ann oovvee r r vviiee ww oof f ccoollllaa bboor r aa ttiioonn ss ttaa nnddaa r r ddss Standardization becomes an important part of a dynamically collaborative environment. In fact, the future of

collaboration will mostly be driven by standardization that helps computer systems to talk to each other

irrespective of vendor affiliations as well as standards that define industry specific collaborative process. Such

standardized executable service components would thus be the reason for the success of the globally

interoperable enterprises. An ideal collaborative enterprise will be defined by stacks of standards: infrastructural

standards at the bottom layer; application services standards at the middle layer and vertical standards at the

top layer. These standards play mediatory roles between people, processes and technologies as well as

boundaries defined by one enterprise with respect to another.

Several initiatives are trying to bring clarity to standards interoperability for the benefit of collaborating

enterprises. These include the work on XML formats, the VICS (voluntary inter-industry commerce standards),

CPFR initiatives as well as GCI (Global Commerce Initiative). Such initiatives seek to develop recommendations

for the endorsement and development of standards that meet the common and diverse needs of a global

community of collaborating enterprises for the present and for the future particularly with a commerceperspective.

The oldest standard that the fraternity of electronic traders is familiar with is EDI (electronic data interchange),

which continues to have a place in the most basic business transactions. EDI traditionally has found use as a

transport for transactions involving purchase orders, invoices, and advance ship notices. But, the critical

argument against EDI is that it facilitates only point-to-point transactions, which involve huge infrastructure

investments.

The future for EDI lies in its migration to EDIINT i.e., EDI over the Internet. This will ensure that EDI will continue

to function as a viable media for transporting massive amounts of transaction data between the traders. In itsnew avatar , EDI will do so over the Internet using TCP/IP and will work with numbers derivatives of XML as

collaborating enterprises seek more dynamic, interactive and synchronous business processing as opposed to

batch processing of the EDI days in the 1960s.

Summing up all the developments and evolution surrounding standards at the infrastructure, integration,

interactivity, and security layers, the collaborative environment envisaged is broad based, global in character,

and able to handle complex business transactions, utilizing multiple networks and processing entities. The

ultimate goal of such a collaborative environment is interoperability.

The scope of standards development extends to cover the four levels of collaboration which has been defined

earlier: the information level for publication purposes, the system level for interactivity between systems, the

process level that defined multiple transactions and the relationship level where true enterprise collaboration is

manifested. Levels here imply the levels of abstractions that define the operating environment for standards.

11.1 Information Level StandardsThe main goal of development in this layer is to achieve common agreements in the way information is

published by collaborating enterprises. For example, sharing specifications, advertising or other static


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2002 I

tsr collaboration 1.0

Documents