Enterprise collaboration:

It is about creating a value network that captures, extents and exploits knowledge within an organization and industry. Organizations create significant competitive business advantage by building knowledge communities, with effective electronic collaboration as part of their e-business strategies. They apply collaborative infrastructure to a value network with seamless exchange of goods, services & revenue (e-commerce), information and knowledge (models, design, lesson learned, know how, production process, business processes) and intangibles experiences (customer/supplier/employee relationships, product/service loyalty, user/business/knowledge community).

Businesses benefit from enterprise coloration and knowledge management by reducing cycle-time of business process and innovation. They can leverage knowledge and business intelligence within and outside the company. Companies would be more able to cope and response to environmental changes. They can also develop better relationship with their customer, suppliers and their employees. Companies can better integrate with their partners and streamline business process and create synergies.

Knowledge management is a discipline using human expertise and information to improve productivity and productivity growth (innovation).

Electronic Collaboration enables business stakeholders to work together effectively over time and space using electronic devices.

Communities are groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise, knowledge and passion for a joint business objective and common goals.

The 5 Cs of Knowledge Management:

Context: What makes KM different from IM or IT

Communication: People-to-people, People-to-information

Coordination: Project Teams, Calendaring / Scheduling

Collaboration: Synchronous and Asynchronous

Community: The Key to Success

You want to apply coloration and knowledge management to clear, measurable financial benefit, when you have to share/use complex information in your business. Your company requires frequent interaction among your stakeholders. With the speed of change, your company needs fast decision making cycle-time and fast, effective, cohesive collaboration.

Collaborative technologies should utilize open, flexible frameworks. Since it is enterprise collaboration, we should avoid vertical solutions. You may need to upgrade and extend existing infrastructure and utilize robust, outsourced model with Just-in-time, Just Right Functionality. They should be driven by role & policy-based computing with directory-Centered Applications. It should be secured with 128-bit Encryption & public/private key infrastructure. As a change agent to lead your organization to take advantage of Knowledge Management, you should take the lead to kick-start the knowledge Management initiatives. Identify Target Population. Win Executive Sponsorship From Business. Remember to involve, people, and process first. Then you enable them with timely, easy to use, in context and secure technology. Form communities and enable them with collaboration.