The Internet first changed how people communicate, it then changed how how businesses do business with each other. It is now in the process of changing how businesses work internally with an increasing focus on collaboration, a trend which promises a continuing migration towards both virtual business infrastructure and a kaleidoscope of business services, which a company may realign at will, depending on its current product or service demand.

A major shift in attitude is taking place, as managers wake up to the realization that the critical element in work is not to be planted in a particular office but the ability to exchange ideas, information and knowledge in a collaborative environment. It is an increasingly accepted and cost effective part of our work culture for internal business processes to be augmented and improved by more customer input and external collaboration from partners and strategic allies. The blended result tends to achieve both greater customer satisfaction and increased profitability for the company.

Office Infrastructure Focused On Collaboration

Planning the workspace of today requires going beyond the physical lay out, or even the communications equipment, of the past....the telephone and fax... and focusing more on making collaboration possible.

In starting up Redpoint Venture Capital, for instance, the partners' goal was to leverage current technology for efficiency and ease of communication to support their ability to analyze and select big bucks venture investments in a warp speed environment. They installed DSL connections in the office and also in each partner's home, a wireless local-area network, custom-written deal-tracking software, and, in addition to the ubiquitous cell phone, individual Blackberry PDAs so each partner could be in constant touch by email.

Redpoint's conference rooms are state of the art, with video conferencing, integrated Web systems, LCD projectors, and surround sound. These partners are serious about communicating.

And, although Redpoint may have the resources to set a high standard for collaboration, much of this ability to collaborate is readily available on the Net.

From web conferencing with full audio-visual, to work flow processes which allow documents or images to be inputted and managed from different locations, many sites, available to the public, offer this same type of instant collaboration, from any points on the globe.

Collaborative Business Processes

Businesses, both large and small, are able to turn to the Net to collaborate on a wide range of management needs. Sophisticated tools which allow a manager to improve his company's performance by accessing the Net and selecting a particular skill to enhance a particular business task or fill in weak spots in management are now available. A new breed of Net companies are offering cutting edge technology: shared business applications and software to help execute against objectives; e-business solutions; an online marketplace for employee benefits for small business; teleworking tools and resources; customer experience solutions; strategic pricing, intelligence and purchasing; facilities maintenance. The list goes on, but the bottom line is, if you need a business service, you can probably find it on the Net. If it's not available today, odds are it soon will be.

Empowering Worker Collaboration

Not only are businesses themselves increasingly collaborative, but they are recognizing the value in empowering their employees to collaborate. The business intranet is in the process of evolving from an electronic bulletin board for employees to an online customized workspace where employees can go, not only for for personalized tools, but to share information with partners, suppliers, and the sales and support staff.

The Net also offers project management sites, where you can get coworkers, freelancers and clients in the same secure, virtual workspace to review and comment on work in progress, share schedules and budgets and to conference.

Blended Work Products

There is also a trend to maintain a sharp focus on one's core competency and outsource those parts of a project which can be done by others more efficiently or cost effectively . E-work exchanges of various kinds allow a company to select a professional who has posted his skills, selected the work he wants to perform, then, bid on a project. This leverages the talents of your current workforce who then become project managers for those parts of a project which don't require their more valuable skills. They also allow greater flexibility in those projects a company decides to take on, since the skills available to them are almost unlimited. If they can sell it, freelancers can produce it, particularly with the collaboration tools in place, allowing you to review their portfolios in advance, see the project reviews from others who've hired them, and work as closely as you like to assure the end product is what you want.

In fact, there are even e-services to handle such mundane chores as direct mail. The business submits a mailing piece and a list online and the service prints, stuffs, stamps and mails the letter, which arrives in about two days, all for about 50 cents apiece. As one executive put it "you don't have to burn a lot of staff time stuffing envelopes." Your lower level staff becomes, in effect, project managers of the direct mail campaign.

The End Result - More Effectiveness and Cost Efficiency