Chapter 1: Groupware - The Changing Environment

By David Coleman

ISBN# 0-13-727728-8, Copyright 1997, 720 pp.
Now available through Prentice Hall

1.6 Why Groupware?

Downsizing and organizational restructuring or re-design and other trends of the 90's are targeted toward increasing productivity, i.e., fewer people doing more with less. These are not the only challenges for business in the 90's. Increased quality, better customer service, lower cost of sales, greater employee autonomy, and more flexible and responsive organizations are all challenges for the current business climate.

Still, many of today's businesses are coping, even thriving, in this dynamic environment of diverse pressures and changing technologies. How do they do it? How do they stay competitive? How do they maintain a focus on increasing customer satisfaction, retaining high quality and decreasing time to market while reducing costs? What technologies are being introduced to reshape the organization to achieve these goals? The answer to these questions is groupware.

If, as industry analysts claim, groupware will be a multi-billion dollar market in a few years, who will be the customers? Why are businesses the world over so interested in groupware? What is driving the growth of the groupware 'market'? The answers are provided in part by the businesses already invested in groupware. The following list represents the primary motivations for making the move to groupware:

• Better cost control
• Increased productivity
• Better customer service
• Support for TQM
• Fewer meetings
• Automating routine processes
• Extending the organization to include both the customer and the supplier
• Integration of geographically disparate teams
• Increased competitiveness through faster time to market
• Better coordination globally
• Providing a new service that differentiates the organization
• Leveraging professional expertise

1. A network infrastructure capable of supporting groupware is now available.
2. Improved price/performance of groupware hardware and software has made it more available to a larger population.
3. The worldwide recession and downsizing is forcing increased white-collar productivity.
4. Well known vendors such as Microsoft, WordPerfect, IBM/Lotus, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) are promoting groupware products, thereby increasing awareness in the marketplace.
5. Increased competition imposes change on organizations, making them flatter and more flexible, often requiring groupware for this transformation.
6. Increased complexity in today's products and business procedures is driving the use of ad hoc teams supported by groupware.
7. Articles in the trade and business press have increased awareness of groupware and aroused the curiosity of business leaders.

The laws of physics can be applied to markets and technologies. The groupware market is driven by three forces: an initial force used to overcome inertia, followed by momentum, and finally a reaction that is equal and opposite to the initial force. There are also equal and opposing forces that inhibit the growth of groupware including:

1. Low level of education in the business community about groupware.
2. Confusion in the marketplace as to the nature of groupware. Much of the conflicting/competing information distributed by groupware vendors has increased this confusion.
3. Economic recession is decreasing budgets, and many firms perceive that they cannot afford the investment in groupware.
4. Distribution channels for groupware are new and not fully implemented.
5. MIS shops worry that they will become dependent on a groupware vendor.
6. Organizations are resistant to change.
7. There are few standards in the groupware market to foster rapid growth.

Additionally, when 500 groupware users were surveyed at previous GroupWare conferences about their success and/or failure with groupware, those who were not successful noted the greatest problems with groupware were not technological but social. Problems stemmed from the lack of support from top management or lack of a well defined business problem, rather than infrastructure or application issues. Since this is such a critical issue, in a 1996 survey, we asked "What is stopping groupware (on the Internet or intranets) in your organization today?" Overwhelmingly, people responded that although new infrastructures were a challenge, it was the people issues that were inhibiting the adoption of groupware

Figure 1.2

The current trend toward flatter organizations, decentralization, and outsourcing is reflected in the information technologies that businesses employ. The rapid growth of networks and the decline of legacy systems has managers searching for ways to amortize their LANs as well as discover a use for old mainframes that have been paid for and are still functional. The move toward linking companies to their suppliers and/or customers has led to the extension of the organization to include these two groups as well as project-oriented ad-hoc teams that may cross corporate boundaries. Many organizations realize that they cannot be all things to all people. They have discovered the best way to stay competitive is to focus on their primary business and deliver it as efficiently as possible. This specialization means that in order to provide a complete groupware or business solution, many organizations need partners and must enter into new alliances to meet these demands.

The structure of these alliances is often awkward, and the integration of two very different organizations can be painful. There is no set form to follow. However, groupware, because it promotes communication, can often provide a solution. In essence, groupware is the competitive glue of the '90s. Groupware provides a vehicle for organizations to remain flexible, yet fast on their feet, a way to stay focused on the customer yet support the external salesperson, and a way to provide all employees with greater information and autonomy to be more productive.