The Evolution of Business Collaboration

I’ve been following the evolution of business collaboration for several years now. Team, intra-organization, and inter-organization collaboration have been common place for years.  In the late 1990’s and early 2000, the Extended Enterprise became synonymous with value chain collaboration: the inclusion of partners, customers, employees and others in end-to-end value chain processes. Collaboration technologies evolved and online market places were born in every industry.  We’ve reached another defining moment in the evolution of business collaboration; it must occur among everyone, including; partners, employees, suppliers, consumers, community members, shareholders, government and others – collectively: “The Community". As business processes expand to incorporate the community and its collective intelligence, enabling technology becomes even more critical. Web 2.0 and its underlying social computing technology represent the enabler. Community development and the leveraging of community insight will be critical business initiatives in the years to come.