Collaborative work has firmly established itself in the business world. Is it paving the way for a networked economy? A mid-2004 IDC survey revealed that their focus group participants consistently voted web conferencing the most suitable collaboration and meeting tool for 60% of everyday meetings and business processes. This demonstrates a clear shift towards mainstream collaboration.
Trends in Networking and Collaborative Work: The Networked Economy
This is the proposed outline for the March 2006 RIM conference. The date is 4th December 2005 and it was drafted by J.Delacroix and Y. Gourvennec. Please be aware this is a draft executive summary and parts or even the whole document may change.
Networked Economy: Analysing the Root Causes
In this article, Jerome Delacroix and Yann Gourvennec delve into the underlying factors driving these changes. Beyond individual behaviour, the core issue lies in the evolving relationship between working habits and technology.
Vannevar Bush’s groundbreaking 1945 article on dynamic associations introduced the concept of hypertext, ultimately paving the way for the creation of the Web as we know it.
Bush’s vision wasn’t about developing yet another technological gadget but rather enhancing knowledge access and understanding. Ultimately, hypertext facilitated the growth of information networks.
This dynamic interplay between technology and social behaviour is the driving force behind the remarkable development of collaborative tools, initially flourishing at home and later in the office.
It’s also worth noting that new technology adoption often precedes its adoption in the business sector. This shift reflects significant societal changes and carries substantial implications.
The collaborative revolution is well underway, and we may only be at its nascent stages.
2005 was a pivotal year for innovation, witnessing the emergence of various initiatives. These included collective online news blogs, IP-based telephony with increasingly powerful plug-ins, collaboration weblogs, collective wiki-based encyclopaedias, and even online Ajax-based office applications equipped with built-in collaboration features.
This surge in technological advancements has sparked a range of thoughts and even fears, reminiscent of those expressed a decade ago when the Internet gained widespread recognition. Some have even dubbed this new revolution WEB 2.0, though not everyone agrees, with Nicholas Carr being a notable sceptic.
The significance of networking and collaborative work is evident in platforms like LinkedIn and the FoaF model.
The rise of LinkedIn is a natural progression given the evolving nature of work. For countless professionals seeking to build informal networks, platforms like LinkedIn have become almost indispensable. At its core, LinkedIn operates on a simple principle known as the FOAF model, popularised by Friendster. This model emphasises social capital, recognising that workplace relationships are as valuable as technical skills or financial capital.
Networking models like this empower professionals to connect with experts within and outside their organisations, effectively bridging the gap between supply and demand for expertise. This is particularly relevant in today’s increasingly unstable job marketMarket definition in B2B and B2C - The very notion of "market" is at the heart of any marketing approach. A market can be defined..., where office workers are becoming more detached and adopting the role of symbolic analysts, as predicted by Charles Handy years ago.
This shift has led to the proliferation of Soho companies and knowledge workers who prioritise autonomy while actively seeking connections within their professional networks. Central to the FOAF model is reputation management, a mechanism where network members assess each other’s skills. In this article, Jérôme Delacroix and Yann Gourvennec provide examples of existing networks that facilitate professional networking and facilitate the exchange of ideas.
So, what are the essential skills for thriving in the networked economy?
To succeed in this new landscape, individuals must cultivate a range of behavioural skills across several key areas: “Intrapersonal” skills. As the boundary between work and personal life blurs, it’s crucial for individuals to define their core values and those of their organisations.
As cooperative work grows, it demands increasingly frequent interactions between colleagues and the wider world. A significant disconnect between personal beliefs and corporate identity would quickly become intolerable.
This need for coherence already influences the professional choices of so-called cultural creatives globally. Essentially, everyone must engage in Socratic introspection to discover their true selves.
Given the high level of interaction, interpersonal skills will become even more crucial. Smooth communication will be essential.
Theories like transactional analysis and non-violent communication can significantly enhance teamwork. Open communication about work, sharing knowledge and introducing others is a challenge for many.
However, these attitudes are prerequisites for a cooperative economy. Effective negotiation in a win-win manner fosters lasting work relationships.
These tools have transformed the collaborative landscape over the past decade.
The rise of hypertext and the Internet increased networking practices. Email, in particular, became the primary driver, removing organisational communication barriers. It eliminated the need for hierarchical communication between similar levels.
This was a major shift that greatly improved communication. It also prompted middle management to change their work style and interactions with staff.
In this article, Jérôme Delacroix and Yann Gourvennec offer a historical perspective on Groupware and the origins of collaborative work. They then describe various collaborative tool families and highlight the common stove-pipe approach underlying these tools and approaches.
The Future of Collaborative Work
Finding the right technology for specific business needs is daunting. Navigating this sea of technological developments can be challenging, but some major trends emerge.
First, collaboration tools must integrate presence capabilities. However, interoperability remains a concern, as with instant messaging.
Presence can be built on standard Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) systems or develop through telephony over IP. For large enterprises, fostering collaboration via instant messaging while ensuring interoperability and avoiding the proliferation of public IM systems is crucial.
Maintaining security while keeping an eye on user behaviour is a CIO’s nightmare. The real challenge lies in determining which usage suits which users. User segmentationMarket segmentation is as important in B2B as in B2C. Strictly speaking, segmenting means dividing one's market into subsets (segments) is essential for defining requirements and studying these needs.
While videoconferencing is often mentioned, it’s rarely used. Online video presence may become mainstream, but we’re not there yet. Breaking down the barriers between collaboration tools is leading to the inevitable discussion about convergence.
Previous experience with unified messaging demonstrates that convergence can occur when users have adopted individual tools in a silo-like manner. Once accustomed to these tools, there’s often a need for convergence, a concept also linked to Metcalfe’s law.
Supporting hardware availability and interoperability is crucial to minimising integration risks. Mastering all aspects of collaborative work is essential for overcoming the complexities of deploying such technologies and transforming them into tangible business benefits.
Real savings can be achieved through enterprise collaboration when all these criteria are met. Information repositories are a key component of effective collaboration.
Many other features are now integrated into collaborative environments, covering a wide range of office tools like group calendaring project management document versioning and tracing.
These components are now integral to employees’ daily work and even extend beyond the corporate walls. Blogs wikis and peer-to-peer user-centric tools are vital for successful collaborative work information systems.
However, this complexity underscores the importance of accurately defining requirements, which may not end with simply eliciting existing ones but could also lead to the suggestion of new features.
Online collaboration through web-centric Ajax-based applications is enhancing the success of “mainframe”-like approaches that facilitate collaboration and manage the surge of information on individual unshared computers. Understanding the hype cycle is also crucial in selecting innovative systems that are both appealing and challenging to implement.
Collaboration is tempting but ultimately relies on individual decisions to share information and can’t be forced. A viral internal marketing approach is the best way to go.
Here are a few key points about ROI in the networked economy:
Despite the power and widespread availability of these technologies, especially through instant messaging, deploying collaboration tools in the enterprise is still challenging. Issues like requirement assessment, user segmentation, training and usability arise. Furthermore, the constant influx of new products creates confusion about which ones are truly useful and how they fit together. While convergence could potentially simplify collaboration tools by consolidating features, it also increases complexity. However, Jérôme Delacroix and Yann Gourvennec’s research on corporate collaboration demonstrates that ROI can be significant.
