Drivers for Collaboration

Removing the various sources of friction and lowering the barriers preventing the smooth flow of ideas across and between organizations is a noble goal in the abstract, but how does YOUR organization cross the gap from goal to reality? Which real tools can be put to use today for real challenges facing YOUR organization? And looking ahead, how can you best position your organization to take advantage of what is coming?

Knowledge silos (aka stovepipes) are an unfortunate reality in many organizations. A clear and realistic strategy for collaboration tailored to your organization can be extremely effective in overcoming these inherent obstacles to knowledge sharing, which are holding you back.

De-perimeterization is a word being used more frequently lately in some circles, and it refers to the fact that barriers are coming down between enterprises. Increasingly, collaboration is taking place between organizations, leading to the rise of the so-called “virtual organization” (VO). VOs are often project-based, and participants may be separated by geography and organizational affiliation. VOs may be formed and dissolved as projects begin and then reach completion, or they may be longer lived e.g. to support ongoing collaboration with vendors or customers or partners.

In order to facilitate this interaction, new ways of operating are rapidly evolving. A VO may consist of members who are in multiple security domains, each with its own policies and infrastructure, making it challenging to work together seamlessly. In addition, due to time zone differences it may be impractical to work together in real time, thus it is important to utilize both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration tools to their best advantage.

Harnessing the creativity and serendipity stemming from the free flow of ideas is becoming more practical as these tools mature and as organizations learn how to use them to best effect. However, simply dumping any of these tools into your organization without effective planning, implementation, and assessment processes in place can result in wasted time and resources at the best, and chaos at the worst.

There are many companies who bill themselves as do-it-all IT or Business Technology consultants, many of which are very large and very well known, but they tend to have some unfortunate traits in common. One is that they are so large and ponderous that they have been unable to stay abreast of the latest developments and how they can best benefit their clients. Another is that many of them are beholden to vendors who pay for favorable “coverage” and recommendations, although this is frequently not disclosed to the clients paying for what they are led to believe is independent analysis and advice. Many have discovered that not only is the advice from these firms suspect and in many cases woefully out of date and inappropriate to their needs, but there is better and less costly assistance available from smaller more focused firms which have their clients interests as their highest priority. This approach, focusing on the distinguishing characteristics of YOUR organization, competitive environment, and particular requirements, is the core of the LuminaGroup value proposition.