Collaboration The Future Enterprise James S.Pickens

Collaboration Creates Value Much of today’s business is headed into a horizontal future. Vertically-integrated enterprises are unbundling their horizontal components as they focus on their core competencies and outsource non-core activities. This has the virtue of allowing them to concentrate on increasing capital efficiency and maximizing technologies.

Collaboration Creates Value Global customers, however, require global contracts, global account management and globally consistent levels of service. They demand solutions that necessitate multiple organizations to quote, propose, design, sell, deliver and service together. Partner organizations must work in unison to meet customer requirements.

Collaboration Creates Value An enterprise must assemble its partners, creating visibility and coordination using strategies referred to as “Value Webs.” Value Webs are the pragmatic application of business and technology logic that expand the collaboration footprint across multiple organizations to achieve virtual end-to-end connectivity.

The Five Challenges of Collaboration Collaboration presents five challenges. – First, it requires a sharp identification of the sources of business value *. – Second, it must motivate the partners who need to collaborate *. – Third, it needs a process framework that imposes only minimum commonality. – Fourth, it must create the right organizational alignment for partners to interact effectively and flexibly* – Fifth, effective collaboration must be underpinned by an insightful technology architecture *.

Traditional Technology Architectures Traditional technology architectures fail to provide the necessary platform for virtual Value Web collaboration. This type of collaboration requires a strategic framework based on a new technology model.

Traditional Technology Architectures Over the last decade, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems have served as the primary technology to facilitate collaboration within the enterprise.

Traditional Technology Architectures ERP technology creates tight coupling of processes and data, mostly in real time. This is valuable, but practical only within a limited organizational scope: typically functional, country, or product group operations

Traditional Technology Architectures Tight integration due to its lack of flexibility is risky to implement across multiple participants. What is required, instead, is a new technology architecture that enables a flexible, “ loosely” coupled collaborative model. New technologies are emerging that enable enterprises to connect in more flexible ways.

e-Hubs Using Web Technologies to Enable Loosely Coupled Collaboration

e-Hubs e-Hubs are the set of systems and connectors that enable internal and external collaboration. Generally e-Hubs globally focus on: – Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) – Information Access – Content/Document Management – Unified Messaging ( , calendaring, tasks) – Instant Messaging (chat, video, voice, etc.,) – Personalization e-Hubs are usually implemented using Portal technology (Amazon.com).

Getting Started Developing and Implementing a Collaboration Strategy By creating a strategic framework for planning and implementing an e-Hub collaborative model, today’s limited eco- systems become true “Value Webs” that generate value for all partners.

Getting Started Developing and Implementing a Collaboration Strategy Four steps comprise the strategic framework for planning the implementation of an e-Hub collaborative model: – Understand and develop the strategic context and direction – Translate the collaboration strategy into an operational blueprint – Develop a collaboration business case for the enterprise and its partners – Develop an implementation roadmap

e-Hub Case Study A New Way to Harmonize Disparate Systems

e-Hub Case Study This case study illustrates the collaborative challenges of traditional high-tech companies with de-centralized governance structures.

e-Hub Case Study A semiconductor division of a large Asian systems manufacturer, has recently changed its product focus from commodity products to proprietary solutions for global OEMs, in high- growth segments such as networking and wireless communications.

e-Hub Case Study While market dynamics had changed dramatically, the company’s internal structure, processes and culture – wildly successful in the past – have failed to keep pace.

e-Hub Case Study To regain its earlier dominance, the company needed to transform its business from a merchant supplier of commodity products, to a strategic partner providing system-critical solutions

e-Hub Case Study To address these issues: – A case for business transformation was created – A global team of senior executives was assembled to develop new model – A review of the gaps between current and desired model was conducted – Options were explored – An operational blueprint was constructed

e-Hub Case Study The Case for Business Transformation

e-Hub Case Study Technical Architecture Options

e-Hub Case Study Implementation Challenges and Results Challenges – Struggle for standards – Obtaining global buy-in Results – The company was able to improve turnaround time to customer requests and increase global visibility and global cooperation – By building an e-Hub, it was able to accomplish this at a fraction of the cost and time that it took some competitors

e-Hub Case Study Key Lessons Learned For a supplier to effectively meet a customer’s collaboration requirements, internal integration across key touch points with that customer is essential. It is possible to integrate internally without standardizing all aspects of a company’s operational model.

e-Hub Case Study Key Lessons Learned A prerequisite for success is the active involvement and support of senior leadership of key functions. To successfully implement a new operational model, it is necessary to minimize the changes to the organization, and proactively manage the change process.

General Conclusion Real World Business Transformations Industry experiences demonstrate that building value webs is not easy. However, they also establish that with the right strategy and tactical framework, the benefits of collaboration are positive and profound.

Conclusion Real World Business Transformations Lesson learned: – Business transformation of any magnitude requires the vision and leadership of senior management – Effective value webs require compelling win-win propositions that drive internal and partner adoption – Internal connectivity is a prerequisite for external collaboration – Targeting minimum commonality is the key to balancing integration and flexibility – It is vital to manage change across the value web and minimize organizational impact – Success depends on adopting relevant industry standards and collaborative governance