Collaborative Commerce

Computerworld - The arrival of business-to-business exchanges on the Web has created new ways for business partners to work together. By using Web servers as hubs for collaborative commerce efforts, companies are seeking to exchange proprietary data, jointly manage projects and cooperate on the design of new products.

Collaborative commerce should help companies forge long-term relationships while reducing the costs of cooperation, says Lisa Williams, an analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston. For example, a Web server hub could substitute for distributed groupware for jointly managing projects such as constructing a building. "Instead of all the partners buying the same groupware product, they'll all just sign on to the Web site," she says.

While the Web server wouldn't be as functional as groupware, it could have other advantages. "Groupware might not work for everybody, particularly if you've got a 200-person shop working with a two-person shop," Williams says.

But while collaborative commerce has the potential to be the next big trend in partnering, it's just beginning to take shape, says Stan Lepeak, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn.

One barrier is the technology learning curve. "Running a distributed design process among business partners using a Web site as a hub is tough," says Lepeak. "Most large companies are just figuring out how to do that inside the walls of their own corporations. When you go outside the firm, there are lots of issues about technology, security and authorization."

Another barrier is that the idea is new to businesspeople. "Executives are starting to buy into the idea, but it will be years before it's commonplace," Lepeak says.

Some experts say collaborative commerce will make it easier for smaller companies to partner with larger ones, since using a Web server as the data-transmission intermediary may eliminate the need for expensive private networks or electronic data interchange.

Collaborative commerce has "changed who can play," says Anthony Abbattista, a managing director at Chicago consulting firm Diamond Technology Partners Inc. "You don't need huge IT departments writing interfaces in order to get this information in and out of your computer system."

Collaborative commerce may also speed up business cycle times. A big automobile company that can automate the flow of paperwork among its suppliers might increase its efficiency by dealing with all of them in a uniform way. But it's unclear how well this would work in practice because not all paper-based business processes can be automated.

"If you've got specific guidelines for reviewing a document, that can be automated. But if your document review involves having a team look at the document, it's tough to automate that," Lepeak says.