Date sent:        Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:38:46 -0600


Groupware

Collaborative Software to Aid Communication





By 

Index




Introduction	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	2


Defining Groupware	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	4


Forces Driving the Groupware Wave  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	4


The Downside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	7


Groupware Products	 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 	10


Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	11


Cite Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	13



Groupware
By 


A global paradigm shift is rapidly occurring in businesses today. In response to competitive
pressures, the business model is changing, not simply to a new static model, but to a
dynamic, fluid model. Arising from this model are new Groupware or collaborative computing
technologies. 

Groupware is an umbrella term for the technologies that support person-to-person
collaboration. Groupware can be anything from E-mail to Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS) to
workflow. It is important to note that Groupware is a relatively new term, describing a new
market and a new set of technologies. Groupware provides tools to solve "collaboration
oriented" business problems1.

As more and more organizations examine the ways in which they work and progressively become
more automated, the need to link together the business processes will increase in
importance. Information Technology(IT) has traditionally provided solutions to business
problems and, through the use of workflow products, is also able to provide the links
between them2.

Network growth, which has been explosive for the last eight years and will probably continue
for the next several years, is fueled by economic and organizational pressures such as
increased global competition and a recession that has been rolling around the world.
Furthermore, as businesses strive to become more efficient by taking advantage of these new
technologies, they are finding that the old hierarchical organization is not adequate. Many
businesses are reinventing or re-engineering themselves using Groupware tools[Coleman]. 

Groupware is collaborative technology.  Groupware is a tool that people use. The difficulty
most organizations encounter with Groupware is not with the technology, because there are
many technical alternatives available, but with the relationship between technology and the
people in the organization who have to use Groupware[Coleman].  

Additionally, organizations tend to resist change in proportion to their size. The larger
the organization the greater the resistance (to an exponential degree). Also, the bigger the
change, the greater the resistance.  This resistance to change is not unique to Groupware.
It is true of any new technology or change in business process. The upside and downside of
Groupware is that these technologies have such a great impact on the way people work and
communicate, that it magnifies the degree of change and can engender strong opinions either
for or against the technology3.

Increased quality, better customer service, lower cost of sales, greater employee autonomy,
and more flexible and responsive organizations are all challenges for the current business
climate.. What is it going to take for business to stay competitive an ever increasing
international climate? How may companies keep communications open over long distance? What
new software technology will become the standard. It is Groupware. Groupware is not a
program, rather a buzzword for a group of technologies that mediate interpersonal
collaboration through the computer. Many different programs, and networking software package
sellers redefine the term "Groupware" to fit their products.

Definition
 Three popular definitions for Groupware are intentional group processes, plus software to
 support them,4 A co-evolving human-tool system,5 and computer-mediated collaboration that
 increases the productivity or functionality of person-to-person  processes.6 

The term Groupware is meant to deliver better collaboration of ideas, by automating the many
tasks of scheduling, information retrieval, and inter/intra company communication. Groupware
is not a new idea. Many of the technologies that compose Groupware have been around for 20
years. Groupware ties in technical, economic, social and organizational trends. These
technologies help to reinforce information sharing from line-workers to CEO's. Because of
the lack of  physical networks, Groupware was limited to single applications on single main
frame type computers.  But, With the increase in Local Area Networks(LAN's), and ability to
share information via the internet, Groupware products are proliferating.

Forces Driving the Groupware Wave:
The following represents the primary motivations for making the move to Groupware:         

Better cost control.
 By creating the ability to bring your suppliers "on-line" with your company, inventory
 requirements can be reduced. On the other hand, by using Groupware products to communicate
 more closely with your customers, you can react quickly to provide the products and
 services needed, without having to play "guessing games" in marketing.

Increased productivity Support for TQM (Total Quality Management)
As companies use TQM methodology, there is a higher need for information exchange. The
Groupware products that support E-mail, and work flow, become integrated into the best
practices procedures.

Fewer meetings
Although most of the articles read for this report stated that Groupware would reduce
meetings, there is no clear evidence that it would. How people meet is what will change.
Some Groupware products like  white, desktop telecommunication, Decision Support Systems,
and satellite linked training courses, and EMS are just a few of the  tools that are on the
market today. I will describe some of these products later.

Automating routine processes 
Even in the service industry, there is a need to automate the processes that occur in daily
business operations. From automatically posting bills, to handling customer inquiries,
Groupware products like relational databases, and telephone and internet ordering systems
help to keep the many of the routine accounting procedures from tying up human resources.

Integration of geographically disparate teams
In large organizations, it can be very expensive to have your best people always traveling
from one meeting to another, and in order to get the most out of a group of people who live
in different parts of the world, Groupware products like E-mail, and browsers, help keep
team members in constant contact, thus avoiding a lot of the travel costs.

Leveraging professional expertise   
With today's need to protect intellectual assets, there is also a need to harness that same
capital. Groupware products enable top management and line-workers to directly ask questions
to the people who have the answers. In fact some Groupware products such as Decision Support
Systems, incorporate data from all portions of a companies processes. People can discuss,
via electronic meetings, the latest facts, figures and trends that are steering their
industry, using their data, and from other data compiled from industrial reports.

Groupware has become a true reality, and there are seven different forces that are pushing
it forward[Coleman]   1. Availability of network infrastructure that is capable of
supporting Groupware. 2. The cost of  hardware/software that supports Groupware is
decreasing. 3. The need to increase "White collar" productivity. 4. The large software
operating companies are creating and promoting their Groupware products.       5. As
companies downsize, Groupware products increase productivity, thus reducing the strain on
workers. 6. Increased complexity in today's  products, services and business procedures is
requiring more team oriented collaboration, thus Groupware products are needed to provide
the information needed. 7. Articles in the trade and business press have increased awareness
of Groupware and aroused the curiosity of  business leaders

The Downside
The world of Groupware is not without its problems though. Due to the newness of the whole
spectrum of Groupware, there is not much general knowledge about what it is. The following
represents some of the problems facing the future of Groupware.[Coleman] 1. A low level of
education in the business community about Groupware. 2. Confusion in the marketplace as to
the nature of Groupware. Much of the conflicting/competing information distributed by
Groupware vendors has increased this confusion.       3. The recession is decreasing
budgets, and many firms perceive that they cannot afford the investment in Groupware.     
4. The distribution channels for Groupware are new and not fully implemented.       5. MIS
shops worry that they will become dependent on a Groupware vendor.       6. Organizations
are resistant to change. 7. There are few standards in the Groupware market to foster rapid
growth.

In his article in MIS magazine from Feb. 1993, David Coleman said  that "when 500 Groupware
users were surveyed at the Groupware'93 conference about their success and/or failure with
Groupware, those who were not successful noted the greatest problems with Groupware were not
technological. Instead, problems stemmed from the lack of support from top management or
lack of a well defined business problem.... By 1997 there should only be five categories for
Groupware products: E-mail/Messaging, Group Document Handling, Conferencing Products,
Workflow tools, and Workgroup Utilities and Development Tools." 

According to Doug Englebart from there are procedures that will help in implementing the
Groupware concept. The first is to find a Groupware champion, the higher they are in
management, the better. The second aspect of Groupware it that it will change the corporate
culture, so you must be prepared for resistance.  The third aspect is choosing the "right"
project for the first demonstration to company employees. Picking a pilot project rather
than trying to roll Groupware out to the whole organization, and a bounded project with a
group that is supportive of both technology and innovation will help overcome resistance to
new and untried ideas. If at all possible, an IT specialist, along with the champion of the
Groupware integration, need to pick a project with visibility and financial impact so that
the cost-based results are easily quantifiable.  

As companies start thinking about initiating the Groupware approach, there are some factors
that need to looked at. Training and Maintenance should be at the top of the list. The total
cost of Groupware is not realized with just the purchase of software, but how much will it
cost to upgrade the software, maintain the databases, and the cost of  purchasing new
hardware. There is also the large cost of training the users. These costs are not readily
quantifiable, but with research, a snapshot of the costs involved can be derived, and then
management can make a cost-based judgment of Groupware. It is important that the Groupware
implementation have adequate planning, support, training, and maintenance.7 

The two major challenges to Groupware are technical and organizational. Of the two, the
organizational challenges are more difficult. For the technical challenges, a technical
solution must be found. However, even if the technology solves the problem, works well, and
is rolled out efficiently, if the corporate culture does not support it, the Groupware
implementation may not be successful. Even if the culture supports it, but there is no
economic justification for a Groupware solution it will fail. Finally, even if technology,
culture, and economics combine to support Groupware, the success of a project can be
destroyed by politics [Coleman]

Still, there are a range of other products and technologies to be found under the umbrella
term. As a matter of fact, industry experts recognize several categories of Groupware
including: electronic mail/messaging; calendaring/scheduling; group document handling;
workgroup development tools; group decision systems and meeting support; information
sharing/conferencing products; and workflow management and business process design.8

In this paper you have read a lot about Groupware as a concept, and a little bit about some
of the types of programs that can be used to support it. The following are some of the brand
names products that are Groupware based, and some of their functions.

Groupware Products
Probably the most commonly know Groupware product is Borland's Lotus Note's products.
Borland developed a suite of software packages such as 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program,
Ami-pro-a word-processing program. Then as they started loosing the market share to other
companies like Microsoft, IBM, and smaller one product companies, Borland started to look at
the business practices side of software. By making all of their products capable of
interacting with each other so that, for example, if a spreadsheet were to be updated, all
other products that use that information would also be updated. Thus reducing the risk of
making uninformed decisions due to incorrect information. Borland is also working on
Groupware products such as White Board, a product that allows multiple users to work on a
single spreadsheet, database or engineering diagram. Users at remote sites, can talk, draw,
and make changes in real-time using Groupware oriented software.

One of the most common products that is being incorporated into the Groupware spectrum are
Web-Browsers. Web-Browsers, like Netscape enable customers and suppliers to read current
information on anything from inventory, to latest news releases. Browsers are becoming the
fastest growing segment of the Groupware world. Because of the increase in internet users,
companies are able to solicit electronic information, without having to supply the software.
A Browser is a graphical based user interface, and many customers and companies already have
a form of Browser on their PC's so users need little training. When the eventual winner of
the Browser wars9 rises out of the ashes, there will be a "true" standard in Groupware data
handling.

The newest type of products are desktop teleconferencing. Intel's Pro-Share is probably the
most common. Using data compression, users connected via the Internet, or ISDN, or LANS/WANS
are able to communicate face-to-face via cameras and microphones that are added on to
desktop computers. Multiple users can gather electronically while never leaving the office.
The price of desktop teleconferencing equipment is dropping quickly. Cameras that used to
cost in the thousands are now as low as a hundred dollars. The biggest obstacle in the way
of teleconferencing is the cost of the connection. Also the lack of data lines with the
ability to handle the increased amount of data-traffic created by trying to pass video
though telephone lines. This has kept growth of teleconferencing from really expanding. But,
as more high speed communication technology infrastructure, such as fiber optics comes into
play, there will be increased use of desktop teleconferencing.

Conclusion
In order to be competitive in today's global society, companies need to find the "right"
tools for the "right" job. There is a definite trend in business to purchase software
packages that enable collaboration, and  compatibility of data to enable easy sharing of
information. Although there are as many products available today, there are really no
guidelines on implementing the whole process. So companies will experiment with the newest
software, rather than just finding the products they need to solve the business problems. IT
and management must be hand-in-hand on the planning, purchasing and implementation of
Groupware systems. As I said in the beginning, Groupware is NOT a software product, but
rather many software products used to solve business problems.

CITES
Cummings, J "New tools for collaboration emerge in the Public Network."  Telecommunications
Dec. 95 P.39

Frye Colleen "Groupware Strikes Collaborative Chord" Software Magazine Oct. 95 P.94

Laws, Virginia "The big picture: Knowledge at a cost" Forbes Jun. 95

Managing Office Technology  "Toward a Definition of Groupware" Oct.1. 1995 P.35

Udell, Jon "Global Groupware" Byte Mag. Nov. 95






1 Technology and Applications, An Overview of GroupWare  by David Coleman
2 http://www.butlergroup.co.uk/butgrp/techaud/grp/staffwar.htm
3 http://www.wang.com/sbu/ent-wp2.htm
4 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, 1978:
5 Doug Englebart, 1988:
6 "An Overview of Groupware," David Coleman. From Chapter One of Groupware: Technology and
Applications, Prentice Hall, 1995 7 Laws, Virginia "The big picture: Knowledge at a cost"
Forbes Jun. 95 8 http://www.collabra.com/articles/acceler.htm:  Britton Manasco 9 "Browser
Wars, Will Microsoft beat Netscape" PC week  January 17, 1996. 13
