The Collaborative Revolution

Innovation in the past happened in conclaves behind thick walls of R&D departments in organizations.

However, there is a measurable trend: Projects that organizations would have done internally in the past are today handed out to contractors, who in turn may use subcontractors, and so on.

This cross-corporate trend brings speed and agility for the owners of the projects and gives them access to knowledge that they do not have in-house. For the contractors, doing customer projects is a viable business model to bring money home.

However, project business is high-risk business for all parties involved.

Often overlooked are the new requirements that people involved have to meet. On top of technical and organizational challenges, cross-corporate projects bring additional layers of complexity in domains such as commercial and legal. New knowledge and behavioral changes are necessary to master collaborative approaches.

This raises the question: Are people sufficiently prepared to navigate the challenges of the collaborative revolution?