Chapter 1: Groupware - The Changing Environment

By David Coleman

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

An Introduction to Groupware

Groupware is an umbrella term describing the electronic technologies that support person-to-person collaboration. Groupware includes E-mail, Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS), Desktop Video Conferencing (DVC) as well as systems for workflow and business process re-engineering (BPR). Technologies which support collaboration are in greater demand today than ever before, and, in recognition of that fact, vendors are integrating collaboration technologies into their products. Distributed workforces, information overload, and getting products to market as quickly as possible are just a few of the motivations pushing collaboration technology development. In this chapter, we will discuss many of the issues fundamental to groupware strategy and success.

Table of Contents:

• 1.1 What Does Groupware Really Do?
• 1.2 Definitions of Groupware
• 1.3 The Challenges of Groupware
• 1.4 Four Trends for Collaboration
• 1.5 The Main Message - Coleman’s Law
• 1.6 Why Groupware?
• 1.7 Why People Buy Groupware
• 1.8 Groupware versus the Internet
• 1.9 Groupware Technology and the IT Architecture
• 1.10 Some Case Studies in Collaboration
• 1.11 Groupware and Re-engineering
• 1.12 Groupware and De-engineering
• 1.13 Defining Knowledge Architectures
• 1.14 Using Groupware to Learn About Groupware: The Business Transformation Game
• 1.15 The Future: An Architecture for the Connected Organization
• 1.16 Summary
• Bibliography