Software to Promote Team Work

Today, many businesses are redefining the way they do business. This transformation involves breaking down old structures by building responsive cross-functional teams to meet customers' needs and face competitive threats. For these teams to operate effectively they need software that allows them to work together. The old method of an individual interacting only with the computer and its programs is gone forever. What is needed is software that allows team members to share ideas, information and tasks to help them complete business processes as efficiently as possible.

The software to bring about this new way of working is collaborative software. This has become one of the key enablers in restructuring the enterprise as part of business process reengineering (BPR), continuous improvement or total quality management programs. BPR is the radical redevelopment of the way a company operates. Existing processes are thrown out and new ones created. As Michael Hammer wrote in the early 1990s, "Don't automate, obliterate." By business processes we mean any activities performed by people or machines which transform inputs into outputs in the form of goods or services.

This book looks in detail at the two key types of collaborative software application groupware and workflow software and explains what they are, what benefits they give and how to bring them into your company. The increasingly important role played by the Internet and internal company Internet facilities, known as intranets, in providing collaborative facilities is also included.