Partnering and the Future

In reading my first blog I assume that many may wonder why, in my definition of true collaboration, there would be a need to extend the [SharePoint] site out to the public - instead of the default intranet situation that usually exists. ...After all it is a huge leap forward to enable people of large (or small), spread out organizations to work together despite the geographical or departmental boundaries that separate them.

True, it is HUGE to enable people in organizations to work together in virtual workspaces - and it is enabling to say the very least. However, as we move forward into the future of technology, the boundaries as we see them today will change. In my opinion, very little collaboration will be limited to internal operations. Most of our future collaboration will extend well beyond corporate boundaries and force us to 'partner' with sister-organizations.

For example, in the Construction industry, Contractors must partner with sub-contractors (as they have always had to). However today they also partner with Design Engineers, Traffic Control Officers, Environmental Agencies and others. Those that they partner with must be able to approve and comment on their submittals - forcing them to collaborate outside of their own organizations with others that may, or may not have, the same agenda. However, in order to do their work efficiently, and to avoid litigation, they must accept that partnership for the sake of the end result (the project or mission).

These kind of partnerships can be painful and difficult to manage, with or without technology. But effective use of technology can improve communications and diminish some of the most common challenges.

In short, we (teams and businesses) are no longer working alone - or made up of one organization. The business world requires we work together in ways we may have been able to avoid in the past (no comment on whether this is good or bad).