Investigating the factors that drive requirements change is an important prerequisite for underst... more Investigating the factors that drive requirements change is an important prerequisite for understanding the nature of requirements volatility. This increased understanding will improve the process of requirements change management. This paper mainly focuses on change analysis to identify and characterize the causes of requirements volatility. We apply a causal analysis method on change request data to develop a taxonomy of change. This taxonomy allows us to identify and trace the problems, reasons and sources of changes. Adopting an industrial case study approach, our findings reveal that the main causes of requirements volatility were changes in customer needs (or market demands), developers' increased understanding of the products, and changes in the organization policy. During the development process, we also examined the extent of requirements volatility and discovered that the rate of volatility was high at the time of requirements specification completion and while functional specification reviews were conducted.
The National e-Procurement Project Australia (NeRPA) was initiated in 2003 in response to ongoing... more The National e-Procurement Project Australia (NeRPA) was initiated in 2003 in response to ongoing interest among the business and academic communities about the current state of electronic procurement (e-Procurement) in Australian industries and organisations. This report highlights the key findings from the 2005-2006 Australian National e-Procurement Survey.
Hypermedia as an experiential learning tool: a theoretical model
Inf. Res., 1996
... In order to create an overview of all the knowledge contained in the space the learner must e... more ... In order to create an overview of all the knowledge contained in the space the learner must engage with at least some of the activities in each of the subspaces. This is the philosophy behind the architecture of the Experiential Learning Layer in the model proposed in Figure 2. ...
E-procurement has been identified as an area of B2B e-commerce where IS-enabled transformations o... more E-procurement has been identified as an area of B2B e-commerce where IS-enabled transformations of business processes and practices are likely to yield significant benefits. In this paper we present the findings from a recent survey of e-procurement in Australia. The survey is designed around the OECD model of e-business adoption and provides a picture of the readiness, intensity and impact of eprocurement in Australian organisations. The survey findings indicate that e-procurement has transitioned from a largely operational concern and now takes a more strategic position in organisations. E-procurement implementations have increased in both reach and scope, with more organisations implementing systems that span the whole enterprise, encompassing a greater range of procurement functions and activities. However, whilst progress has been made a number of challenges still remain. None of the respondents who had implemented e-procurement reported major or significant benefits. Moderate ...
Computer-mediated communication in the information curriculum: an initiative in computer-supported collaborative learning
Education for Information
Organizational life is being transformed by the use of communication technologies to support enha... more Organizational life is being transformed by the use of communication technologies to support enhanced information flow, and group project and decision processes. The knowledge and skills to utilise and develop these technologies effectively are required by professionals in many types of organization, although the information manager has a particular responsibility in this respect. This paper describes an innovative new course
Conference Proceedings 1991 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1991
This paper surveys the most recent advances in the context of decisional processing with focusing... more This paper surveys the most recent advances in the context of decisional processing with focusing on the parking behavior in entropic settings, including the measures and the necessary mechanisms for the interaction of the actors-players, and their connection to decisional processing theory. The aim of this article is to provide a critical review of the most fashionable models and methods in parking lot financial design: the first class of methods covers the approach of analysis with the random entropic model; the second class of methods is the decisional processing through rational choice models as rational individual evaluations. Both techniques are described in detail in sections; we illustrate them using the wellknown and easy multimodal problem approach and then we present the advanced applications. Thus, it is possible to identify all strong and weak points of the models and to compare them for a best feasible solution for parking lot economic and financial design. Taking into account a close equivalence between the aggregate methods of entropy maximization and disaggregated microeconomic method of discrete choice models, based on random utility theory, we try to provide a critical approach of it through the rational choice models and to underline the possible benefit of it for the problem decision.
~This paper arises from a workshop at the CAL '95 conference. It attempts to share practical expe... more ~This paper arises from a workshop at the CAL '95 conference. It attempts to share practical experience with both successes and problems in the use of computer-mediated communications (CMC), to support flexible patterns of teaching and learning within higher education. The workshop was based around the CMC in HE project at Lancaster University, with accounts from Lancaster and the University of Derby that have been actively exploring the use of CMC in their teaching. Several participants at the workshop (including from Sheffield University and Glasgow University) also reported on their own experiences. Their contributions are included here and collectively have provided stimulus to the issues that are addressed. This paper's main function is to crystallize some reflections from these perspectives around the important issues of flexible access and opportunities for women, establishing use and sustaining participation in CMC-based learning environments.
Expectations versus reality: a snapshot of consumer experiences with Internet retailing
International Journal of Information Management, 2000
Recent surveys have predicted that Internet shopping will show considerable growth over the next ... more Recent surveys have predicted that Internet shopping will show considerable growth over the next few years although there is still much uncertainty about the factors that will drive or inhibit this growth. This paper presents a study of consumers’ experiences of Internet shopping. By examining more than 100 purchases of a wide range of products from Internet sites in five countries, the transactions and the experiences of consumers were compared with expected outcomes based on current academic and industry research. The study found that consumers’ expectations of convenience, customised service and access to a wider variety of products were realised in 70% of cases. However, consumer concerns about security, ease of use, levels of service and overall cost pose significant constraints on growth. On the basis of these findings a more integrated approach to research in Internet shopping is proposed.
Realising business value and identifying the benefits arising from implementations of ERP systems... more Realising business value and identifying the benefits arising from implementations of ERP systems remains a significant challenge for both research and practice. A review of existing work on ERP benefits reveals that current frameworks pay limited attention to contextual and temporal variations; socio-technical and business change; and levels of benefit realisation. This paper presents findings from an ongoing research project to develop a framework for investigating ERP benefits and business change, which addresses the identified limitations of previous research and provides a more detailed analysis of ERP benefits and their contextual variation. Using an iterative content analysis, the preliminary study presented here is based on 15 case studies. The final study will draw on data gathered from more than 60 case study organisations of differing size, maturity and industry sector.
In this paper, we give a narrative account of the building and sustaining of a multi-organization... more In this paper, we give a narrative account of the building and sustaining of a multi-organization practice based research community (IndustryConnect). We begin with an examination of the motivations and theoretical foundations for the initiative, which brings together researchers and practitioners to investigate the design of the digital workplace and the use of enterprise collaboration systems. We discuss the arrangements , structures and research methods used and the challenges and rewards of practice-based research. These include: aligning stakeholder interests, serving both theoretical and practical outcomes and the role of research training and mentoring in the process of community building.
In this paper we present the findings of the first part of a research project examining the adopt... more In this paper we present the findings of the first part of a research project examining the adoption, appropriation and long-term use of enterprise collaboration systems (ECS). The aim of the study is to identify the challenges that organizations encounter during the introduction and use of an ECS. Through a meta-analysis and classification of the academic literature and corroborating company interviews five adoption challenge areas were identified: culture, business/ operation, technology in use, benefits, and attitude/ behavior. The challenges and the associated sub-challenges are described and their nature and implications for both theory and practice are discussed.
In this paper we present a study of socio-technical change and the adoption of an enterprise coll... more In this paper we present a study of socio-technical change and the adoption of an enterprise collaboration system (ECS). Through the use of a longitudinal interpretive case study, we examine the context and dynamics at play in the implementation of an academic collaboration platform. The collaboration platform was envisaged as an information infrastructure for teaching and research collaboration with the objective of supporting Boyer's four scholarships. Using theories of socio-technical change as both a theoretical and analytical lens and concepts drawn from actor-network theory (ANT) we focus on the shaping of the platform, the translations that occur and the inscriptions that emerge from the aligning and realigning of heterogeneous networks of actors and interests. In the study findings we present the different constellations and concerns that emerged as the project passed through several phases. In its current state the information infrastructure has achieved a degree of durability; the various interests in the actor-network are aligned and, to a large extent, the platform could be described as having achieved irreversibility.
A new research group has recently been established in the Department, focusing upon electronic su... more A new research group has recently been established in the Department, focusing upon electronic support for collaborative learning and work. In the area of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), we are exploring and developing new pedagogic models for learning, using electronic support and learner-centred approaches. For example, our current activities involve the exploitation of appropriate technology to support open and distance learning, and the design of curricula based upon constructivist and experiential learning principles . The research group supports departmental teaching and learning innovations as well as pursuing its wider research agenda. In the area of computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), we are interested in the changing contexts for collaborative work offered by new technologies, from both managerial and social-psychological perspectives. The British Library has recently awarded the group a grant to undertake a sixteen-month project entitled Communicating Effectively in the Networked Library.
Developments in electronic publishing in higher education are leading to significant changes in t... more Developments in electronic publishing in higher education are leading to significant changes in the information supply chain and institutional arrangements for the creation, organisation, dissemination and preservation of scholarly communications such as journal papers, conference papers, working papers and other scholarly information products. Despite the rich and growing literatures about eScholarship and scholarly ePublishing there is still much uncertainty about its impact on universities and the producers, managers and consumers of scholarly publications. In this paper we present a program of critical and evaluative research to investigate scholarly ePublishing systems in use and over time. We use theories of socio-technical change to investigate the interwoven social and technical dimensions of scholarly ePublishing. The aim of the research is to make the impact of scholarly ePublishing visible; to support the development of evidence-based policies and practices; and to improve our understanding of scholarly ePublishing praxis.
Developing educational hypermedia applications: a methodological approach
This paper proposes an hypermedia development methodology with the aim of integrating the work of... more This paper proposes an hypermedia development methodology with the aim of integrating the work of both educators, who will be primarily responsible for the instructional design, with that of software experts, responsible for the software design and development. Hence, it is proposed that the educators and programmers should interact in an integrated and systematic manner following a methodological approach.
The Social Business Readiness Survey 2014 draws a picture of the current state of use of socially... more The Social Business Readiness Survey 2014 draws a picture of the current state of use of socially-enabled Enterprise Collaboration Systems. It is likely that the companies that participated in the study are "early movers", who decided at an early stage to embrace the opportunities and challenges that come from the introduction of social software in the work environment. This includes, most impor-tantly, the management of the organisational change, which is triggered by an ECS introduction. The study shows that companies are using integrated software packages (suites) and portfolios of dif-ferent software products to setup their ECS. The resulting heterogeneity provides a challenge for the operation as well as the use collaboration software. For the users it creates uncertainties with respect to choosing the "right" tool for a specific task and the federated search across heterogeneous tools is rarely in place (without a large integration effort). The study results also show that the use of ECS is not consistently regulated in the form of strategies or guidelines and seems to have an experimental character in many cases. The now emerging "social con-tent" could eventually become a problem for user companies. Here appropriate methods and measures for a successful long-term management of ECS must still be developed. A “professionalisation” of the use and management of ECS in the next few years will be essential. Today, no great importance is attributed to the measurement of system use and business value. This will probably have to change if managers want to argue for more human resources (e.g. key users or guides) or for additional investment in hardware and software. Due to the prevailing, rather voluntary nature of ECS use, it is particularly important that employees see the benefits of the system for them-selves. The communication of this benefit occurs in the ideal case using examples, case studies and clear demonstration of collaborative scenarios for everyday work situations. In a quarter of the companies, users can no longer imagine working without the ECS. This number is likely to increase significantly in the coming years as more and more business-relevant information is stored in the ECS and the use of "social" collaboration technology is taken for granted. From today's perspective ECS projects play a minor role compared to ERP systems. They are not re-garded by many companies as "business critical" because they are not visibly involved in the value crea-tion process. The authors of this study point out, however, that the effective and efficient collaboration of knowledge workers is a crucial factor for the competitiveness of enterprises in Germany. In this re-spect, it can be assumed that ECS will gain enormously in importance in the next few years and that their management will become more sophisticated and focused and thus more professional.
Investigating the factors that drive requirements change is an important prerequisite for underst... more Investigating the factors that drive requirements change is an important prerequisite for understanding the nature of requirements volatility. This increased understanding will improve the process of requirements change management. This paper mainly focuses on change analysis to identify and characterize the causes of requirements volatility. We apply a causal analysis method on change request data to develop a taxonomy of change. This taxonomy allows us to identify and trace the problems, reasons and sources of changes. Adopting an industrial case study approach, our findings reveal that the main causes of requirements volatility were changes in customer needs (or market demands), developers' increased understanding of the products, and changes in the organization policy. During the development process, we also examined the extent of requirements volatility and discovered that the rate of volatility was high at the time of requirements specification completion and while functional specification reviews were conducted.
The National e-Procurement Project Australia (NeRPA) was initiated in 2003 in response to ongoing... more The National e-Procurement Project Australia (NeRPA) was initiated in 2003 in response to ongoing interest among the business and academic communities about the current state of electronic procurement (e-Procurement) in Australian industries and organisations. This report highlights the key findings from the 2005-2006 Australian National e-Procurement Survey.
Hypermedia as an experiential learning tool: a theoretical model
Inf. Res., 1996
... In order to create an overview of all the knowledge contained in the space the learner must e... more ... In order to create an overview of all the knowledge contained in the space the learner must engage with at least some of the activities in each of the subspaces. This is the philosophy behind the architecture of the Experiential Learning Layer in the model proposed in Figure 2. ...
E-procurement has been identified as an area of B2B e-commerce where IS-enabled transformations o... more E-procurement has been identified as an area of B2B e-commerce where IS-enabled transformations of business processes and practices are likely to yield significant benefits. In this paper we present the findings from a recent survey of e-procurement in Australia. The survey is designed around the OECD model of e-business adoption and provides a picture of the readiness, intensity and impact of eprocurement in Australian organisations. The survey findings indicate that e-procurement has transitioned from a largely operational concern and now takes a more strategic position in organisations. E-procurement implementations have increased in both reach and scope, with more organisations implementing systems that span the whole enterprise, encompassing a greater range of procurement functions and activities. However, whilst progress has been made a number of challenges still remain. None of the respondents who had implemented e-procurement reported major or significant benefits. Moderate ...
Computer-mediated communication in the information curriculum: an initiative in computer-supported collaborative learning
Education for Information
Organizational life is being transformed by the use of communication technologies to support enha... more Organizational life is being transformed by the use of communication technologies to support enhanced information flow, and group project and decision processes. The knowledge and skills to utilise and develop these technologies effectively are required by professionals in many types of organization, although the information manager has a particular responsibility in this respect. This paper describes an innovative new course
Conference Proceedings 1991 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1991
This paper surveys the most recent advances in the context of decisional processing with focusing... more This paper surveys the most recent advances in the context of decisional processing with focusing on the parking behavior in entropic settings, including the measures and the necessary mechanisms for the interaction of the actors-players, and their connection to decisional processing theory. The aim of this article is to provide a critical review of the most fashionable models and methods in parking lot financial design: the first class of methods covers the approach of analysis with the random entropic model; the second class of methods is the decisional processing through rational choice models as rational individual evaluations. Both techniques are described in detail in sections; we illustrate them using the wellknown and easy multimodal problem approach and then we present the advanced applications. Thus, it is possible to identify all strong and weak points of the models and to compare them for a best feasible solution for parking lot economic and financial design. Taking into account a close equivalence between the aggregate methods of entropy maximization and disaggregated microeconomic method of discrete choice models, based on random utility theory, we try to provide a critical approach of it through the rational choice models and to underline the possible benefit of it for the problem decision.
~This paper arises from a workshop at the CAL '95 conference. It attempts to share practical expe... more ~This paper arises from a workshop at the CAL '95 conference. It attempts to share practical experience with both successes and problems in the use of computer-mediated communications (CMC), to support flexible patterns of teaching and learning within higher education. The workshop was based around the CMC in HE project at Lancaster University, with accounts from Lancaster and the University of Derby that have been actively exploring the use of CMC in their teaching. Several participants at the workshop (including from Sheffield University and Glasgow University) also reported on their own experiences. Their contributions are included here and collectively have provided stimulus to the issues that are addressed. This paper's main function is to crystallize some reflections from these perspectives around the important issues of flexible access and opportunities for women, establishing use and sustaining participation in CMC-based learning environments.
Expectations versus reality: a snapshot of consumer experiences with Internet retailing
International Journal of Information Management, 2000
Recent surveys have predicted that Internet shopping will show considerable growth over the next ... more Recent surveys have predicted that Internet shopping will show considerable growth over the next few years although there is still much uncertainty about the factors that will drive or inhibit this growth. This paper presents a study of consumers’ experiences of Internet shopping. By examining more than 100 purchases of a wide range of products from Internet sites in five countries, the transactions and the experiences of consumers were compared with expected outcomes based on current academic and industry research. The study found that consumers’ expectations of convenience, customised service and access to a wider variety of products were realised in 70% of cases. However, consumer concerns about security, ease of use, levels of service and overall cost pose significant constraints on growth. On the basis of these findings a more integrated approach to research in Internet shopping is proposed.
Realising business value and identifying the benefits arising from implementations of ERP systems... more Realising business value and identifying the benefits arising from implementations of ERP systems remains a significant challenge for both research and practice. A review of existing work on ERP benefits reveals that current frameworks pay limited attention to contextual and temporal variations; socio-technical and business change; and levels of benefit realisation. This paper presents findings from an ongoing research project to develop a framework for investigating ERP benefits and business change, which addresses the identified limitations of previous research and provides a more detailed analysis of ERP benefits and their contextual variation. Using an iterative content analysis, the preliminary study presented here is based on 15 case studies. The final study will draw on data gathered from more than 60 case study organisations of differing size, maturity and industry sector.
In this paper, we give a narrative account of the building and sustaining of a multi-organization... more In this paper, we give a narrative account of the building and sustaining of a multi-organization practice based research community (IndustryConnect). We begin with an examination of the motivations and theoretical foundations for the initiative, which brings together researchers and practitioners to investigate the design of the digital workplace and the use of enterprise collaboration systems. We discuss the arrangements , structures and research methods used and the challenges and rewards of practice-based research. These include: aligning stakeholder interests, serving both theoretical and practical outcomes and the role of research training and mentoring in the process of community building.
In this paper we present the findings of the first part of a research project examining the adopt... more In this paper we present the findings of the first part of a research project examining the adoption, appropriation and long-term use of enterprise collaboration systems (ECS). The aim of the study is to identify the challenges that organizations encounter during the introduction and use of an ECS. Through a meta-analysis and classification of the academic literature and corroborating company interviews five adoption challenge areas were identified: culture, business/ operation, technology in use, benefits, and attitude/ behavior. The challenges and the associated sub-challenges are described and their nature and implications for both theory and practice are discussed.
In this paper we present a study of socio-technical change and the adoption of an enterprise coll... more In this paper we present a study of socio-technical change and the adoption of an enterprise collaboration system (ECS). Through the use of a longitudinal interpretive case study, we examine the context and dynamics at play in the implementation of an academic collaboration platform. The collaboration platform was envisaged as an information infrastructure for teaching and research collaboration with the objective of supporting Boyer's four scholarships. Using theories of socio-technical change as both a theoretical and analytical lens and concepts drawn from actor-network theory (ANT) we focus on the shaping of the platform, the translations that occur and the inscriptions that emerge from the aligning and realigning of heterogeneous networks of actors and interests. In the study findings we present the different constellations and concerns that emerged as the project passed through several phases. In its current state the information infrastructure has achieved a degree of durability; the various interests in the actor-network are aligned and, to a large extent, the platform could be described as having achieved irreversibility.
A new research group has recently been established in the Department, focusing upon electronic su... more A new research group has recently been established in the Department, focusing upon electronic support for collaborative learning and work. In the area of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), we are exploring and developing new pedagogic models for learning, using electronic support and learner-centred approaches. For example, our current activities involve the exploitation of appropriate technology to support open and distance learning, and the design of curricula based upon constructivist and experiential learning principles . The research group supports departmental teaching and learning innovations as well as pursuing its wider research agenda. In the area of computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), we are interested in the changing contexts for collaborative work offered by new technologies, from both managerial and social-psychological perspectives. The British Library has recently awarded the group a grant to undertake a sixteen-month project entitled Communicating Effectively in the Networked Library.
Developments in electronic publishing in higher education are leading to significant changes in t... more Developments in electronic publishing in higher education are leading to significant changes in the information supply chain and institutional arrangements for the creation, organisation, dissemination and preservation of scholarly communications such as journal papers, conference papers, working papers and other scholarly information products. Despite the rich and growing literatures about eScholarship and scholarly ePublishing there is still much uncertainty about its impact on universities and the producers, managers and consumers of scholarly publications. In this paper we present a program of critical and evaluative research to investigate scholarly ePublishing systems in use and over time. We use theories of socio-technical change to investigate the interwoven social and technical dimensions of scholarly ePublishing. The aim of the research is to make the impact of scholarly ePublishing visible; to support the development of evidence-based policies and practices; and to improve our understanding of scholarly ePublishing praxis.
Developing educational hypermedia applications: a methodological approach
This paper proposes an hypermedia development methodology with the aim of integrating the work of... more This paper proposes an hypermedia development methodology with the aim of integrating the work of both educators, who will be primarily responsible for the instructional design, with that of software experts, responsible for the software design and development. Hence, it is proposed that the educators and programmers should interact in an integrated and systematic manner following a methodological approach.
The Social Business Readiness Survey 2014 draws a picture of the current state of use of socially... more The Social Business Readiness Survey 2014 draws a picture of the current state of use of socially-enabled Enterprise Collaboration Systems. It is likely that the companies that participated in the study are "early movers", who decided at an early stage to embrace the opportunities and challenges that come from the introduction of social software in the work environment. This includes, most impor-tantly, the management of the organisational change, which is triggered by an ECS introduction. The study shows that companies are using integrated software packages (suites) and portfolios of dif-ferent software products to setup their ECS. The resulting heterogeneity provides a challenge for the operation as well as the use collaboration software. For the users it creates uncertainties with respect to choosing the "right" tool for a specific task and the federated search across heterogeneous tools is rarely in place (without a large integration effort). The study results also show that the use of ECS is not consistently regulated in the form of strategies or guidelines and seems to have an experimental character in many cases. The now emerging "social con-tent" could eventually become a problem for user companies. Here appropriate methods and measures for a successful long-term management of ECS must still be developed. A “professionalisation” of the use and management of ECS in the next few years will be essential. Today, no great importance is attributed to the measurement of system use and business value. This will probably have to change if managers want to argue for more human resources (e.g. key users or guides) or for additional investment in hardware and software. Due to the prevailing, rather voluntary nature of ECS use, it is particularly important that employees see the benefits of the system for them-selves. The communication of this benefit occurs in the ideal case using examples, case studies and clear demonstration of collaborative scenarios for everyday work situations. In a quarter of the companies, users can no longer imagine working without the ECS. This number is likely to increase significantly in the coming years as more and more business-relevant information is stored in the ECS and the use of "social" collaboration technology is taken for granted. From today's perspective ECS projects play a minor role compared to ERP systems. They are not re-garded by many companies as "business critical" because they are not visibly involved in the value crea-tion process. The authors of this study point out, however, that the effective and efficient collaboration of knowledge workers is a crucial factor for the competitiveness of enterprises in Germany. In this re-spect, it can be assumed that ECS will gain enormously in importance in the next few years and that their management will become more sophisticated and focused and thus more professional.
Uploads
Papers by Susan Williams
The study shows that companies are using integrated software packages (suites) and portfolios of dif-ferent software products to setup their ECS. The resulting heterogeneity provides a challenge for the operation as well as the use collaboration software. For the users it creates uncertainties with respect to choosing the "right" tool for a specific task and the federated search across heterogeneous tools is rarely in place (without a large integration effort).
The study results also show that the use of ECS is not consistently regulated in the form of strategies or guidelines and seems to have an experimental character in many cases. The now emerging "social con-tent" could eventually become a problem for user companies. Here appropriate methods and measures for a successful long-term management of ECS must still be developed. A “professionalisation” of the use and management of ECS in the next few years will be essential.
Today, no great importance is attributed to the measurement of system use and business value. This will probably have to change if managers want to argue for more human resources (e.g. key users or guides) or for additional investment in hardware and software. Due to the prevailing, rather voluntary nature of ECS use, it is particularly important that employees see the benefits of the system for them-selves. The communication of this benefit occurs in the ideal case using examples, case studies and clear demonstration of collaborative scenarios for everyday work situations.
In a quarter of the companies, users can no longer imagine working without the ECS. This number is likely to increase significantly in the coming years as more and more business-relevant information is stored in the ECS and the use of "social" collaboration technology is taken for granted.
From today's perspective ECS projects play a minor role compared to ERP systems. They are not re-garded by many companies as "business critical" because they are not visibly involved in the value crea-tion process. The authors of this study point out, however, that the effective and efficient collaboration of knowledge workers is a crucial factor for the competitiveness of enterprises in Germany. In this re-spect, it can be assumed that ECS will gain enormously in importance in the next few years and that their management will become more sophisticated and focused and thus more professional.
The study shows that companies are using integrated software packages (suites) and portfolios of dif-ferent software products to setup their ECS. The resulting heterogeneity provides a challenge for the operation as well as the use collaboration software. For the users it creates uncertainties with respect to choosing the "right" tool for a specific task and the federated search across heterogeneous tools is rarely in place (without a large integration effort).
The study results also show that the use of ECS is not consistently regulated in the form of strategies or guidelines and seems to have an experimental character in many cases. The now emerging "social con-tent" could eventually become a problem for user companies. Here appropriate methods and measures for a successful long-term management of ECS must still be developed. A “professionalisation” of the use and management of ECS in the next few years will be essential.
Today, no great importance is attributed to the measurement of system use and business value. This will probably have to change if managers want to argue for more human resources (e.g. key users or guides) or for additional investment in hardware and software. Due to the prevailing, rather voluntary nature of ECS use, it is particularly important that employees see the benefits of the system for them-selves. The communication of this benefit occurs in the ideal case using examples, case studies and clear demonstration of collaborative scenarios for everyday work situations.
In a quarter of the companies, users can no longer imagine working without the ECS. This number is likely to increase significantly in the coming years as more and more business-relevant information is stored in the ECS and the use of "social" collaboration technology is taken for granted.
From today's perspective ECS projects play a minor role compared to ERP systems. They are not re-garded by many companies as "business critical" because they are not visibly involved in the value crea-tion process. The authors of this study point out, however, that the effective and efficient collaboration of knowledge workers is a crucial factor for the competitiveness of enterprises in Germany. In this re-spect, it can be assumed that ECS will gain enormously in importance in the next few years and that their management will become more sophisticated and focused and thus more professional.