This is the first in a three-part series on collaborative commerce. This week's feature will explore the c-commerce arena and how Lotus Development Corp. defines its sphere of influence.
A recent Businessweek cover story, "Rethinking the Internet," reports that worldwide B2B transactions will rise from 1.2 trillion dollars in 2001 to $3.6 trillion dollars in 2003. Is it any wonder that Lotus has the words "collaborative" and "commerce" on its mind? Those two words just happen to be the first thing on the company's LotusSphere 2001 Web page.
Brian Adler, Lotus' B2B e-commerce solutions marketing manager, points out that -- like any other Internet technology -- collaborative commerce isn't standing still but continues to evolve.
"Most people think of collaborative commerce as a machine-to-machine interaction -- that is, a shared view of applications and data across an enterprise," he says. "That is essential but not enough. Now, it's thought of as teams of people within an enterprise."
Since the average B2B transaction is tens of thousands of dollars more than the average point-and-click B2C transaction, Adler points out that the c-commerce initiative in the business world is all about garnering trust with one's business partners. It's all about putting a face to the RFP, to the contract, to the purchase order and to the fulfillment process that results in a company's bottom line.
"It's people to people," Adler says. "We're adding the human touch to the transactions that occur in the daily world of commerce."
Adler outlines four cornerstones that all companies must come to grips with when designing and implementing a c-commerce strategy:
1.) Information and knowledge sharing: personalized communications, routing the right
information to the right people at the right time, access to back end ERP data, etc.;
2.) Business interaction: collaborations that support the sale such as product design,
rollout, contract negotiations; machine-to-machine interaction;
3.) Transactions: moving data and money;
4.) Community building: building trust is a key element in most B2B transactions
unlike B2C transactions.
With Lotus technology, Adler says, "community building is constantly occurring throughout the process while Lotus is handling the first three aspects."
Lotus' product line has blossomed from its Notes-Domino origins to encompass a host of new technologies that are making it extremely viable in the c-commerce arena. Sametime, QuickPlace, Domino Everyplace and LearningSpace all embrace the hallmarks of the c-commerce world: data sharing, knowledge management, wireless communications and community building. Throw in IBM's WebSphere muscle for a little transaction processing and Lotus can pack as potent a c-commerce punch as just about anyone else.
Next in our series, we'll take a look at CRM in the Lotus world of c-commerce.
Worthwhile lunch-hour clicks
Rethinking the Internet
This March 2001 cover story from BusinessWeek provides an extensive view of the industry replete with graphics, Q&As and a whole lot of insight from those in the know.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_13/b3725001.html
QuickStudy: Collaborative Commerce
Computerworld gives a short, concise explanation of the business-to-business frontier.
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47-68-85-1950_STO46547,00.html
Groupware grows up
This must-read March 2001 article from ZDNet's Smart@Partner takes a look at the state of groupware--where it's been and where it's headed.
http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/issue/0,4537,2698269-1,00.html
B2B E-Commerce cannot survive without collaboration
A nice look at the past, present and future of collaborative commerce from the IT Factory. Available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF.
http://www.itfactory.com/itf/homepage.nsf/web/ProductITF55Set
Industry Solutions: solutions for collaborative commerce
Lotus' home page for its products, services, solutions and resources.
http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/industrycc
Close the knowledge gap
This January 2001 article in Lotus Solutions Advisor from is a good precis of the Lotusphere keynote address that outlines how Lotus is moving to shift focus from Notes/Domino to peripheral products in the world of e-business.
http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/industrycc
Third parties may control future of collaboration
Computerworld's take on January's LotusSphere is that it's not so much the number of seats you have at your disposal but how well those seats are able to interact with other enterprises, in particular ERP and CRM applications in the years to come.
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO56342,00.html
Wendy Maxfield is a contributing editor based in Littleton, Mass.
