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The Sum is Greater than the Whole
By James Dellow, Chief Technology Solutions
Research conducted by the University of Wollongong demonstrates that
one of the primary reasons that SMEs have been slow to adopt ecommerce
is a reluctance to form partnerships with other businesses. But
in a global, information driven economy the ability to collaborate is a key
competency that every business needs. Overseas outsourcing threatens
all industries white and blue collar alike but local companies can still
compete by embedding themselves in virtual supply chains that add value
through effective business collaboration.
So how do we do it? A combination of trust and technology provides the basis
for effective collaborative e-commerce.
Trust and Collaboration
It is widely recognised that trust plays an important part in all aspects of
business and management. Trust is also critical to successful e-collaboration
between business partners but it can be difficult to develop it quickly enough to
respond to new business opportunities. So how can you develop trust faster?
| Make sure your own house is in order by ensuring you have the right tools
and that you and your own staff are willinging to give collaboration a go - if
you haven't collaborated before, start with a pilot project or two so you can
test the waters with a low risk experiment; |
| Sharing information right away is a good way to build trust but set ground
rules from the beginning on what should and should not be shared you can
gradually share more information as you build trust; |
| Spend time together sometimes this isn't always possible or practical, but
sharing information about people can help so everyone knows who's who;
and |
| Always seek legal advice if you are unsure about your liabilities, rights or
responsibilities in a collaborative arrangement - trustworthy business
partners will understand the need for legal governance. |
Technology and Collaboration
To help you start sharing information quickly, a range of technologies exist that
enable seamless teamwork between different companies. Solutions range from
humble e-mail to more sophisticated virtual workspaces that allow project
members from two or more organisations to share documents and information.
Virtual workspaces are a better alternative to e-mail because they are:
| Relatively cheap to implement hosted virtual workspaces can be rented on
a monthly basis and then disbanded at the end of the project; |
| Better at maintaining confidentiality only people who are part of the project have access to shared information; and |
| More effective at managing version control people have access to the
same documents and information. |
Virtual workspaces can also support trust building by making it easy to provide
whos who information about people involved in a project.
We have discovered that one of the barriers to e-commerce adoption by SMEs
in Australia relates to the ability to work together. But rather ironically
while information technology has itself created a new challenges for many
businesses, it also provides us with new ways of collaborating so that we
can tackle them together.
(C)2004 Chief Technology Solutions. http://www.chieftech.com.au
Disclaimer: Information in this article is of a general nature.
Please seek advice for specific circumstances.
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