Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

145There seems to be a vicious circle here and quite a few corporations are struggling with it.Todays’ lean enterprises have outsourced in order to save costs and decrease complexity. But thendependency on partners lead to another increase <strong>of</strong> complexity and obviously costs. e-commercewith e-marketplaces were supposed to reduce this complexity but by its very systemic natureincreased it as well. To learn about the reality <strong>of</strong> “total costs <strong>of</strong> ownership” added some additionalsobering insights.At the end <strong>of</strong> the day it was only through enabling applications and the know-how <strong>of</strong> competentemployees that this vicious circle was broken. People with knowledge supported by empoweringapplications make it possible to cope with complexity. With knowledgable employees and enablingapplications the corporation can follow a two folded approach: Shrinking and growing at the sametime. Shrinking through focussing on the core business and growing through establishing anextended partnership network.In such a dynamic and complex environment the e-worker finds himself in a pole position, becauseit’s her/his knowledge which is the basis for success. Information and knowledge are key in thebusiness processes <strong>of</strong> the extended environments. At the end <strong>of</strong> the day, they represent the missioncriticalhuman component <strong>of</strong> trillions <strong>of</strong> numerical transactions.Extended relationsships beyond the corporate boundaries pose extreme demands on all actorswith regards to pr<strong>of</strong>essional and social competencies. Horizontal key competencies are in highdemand. Enterprises need to provide knowledge services within the informated business processesalong all elements <strong>of</strong> the extended value-chain. This is an extreme challenge for corporate training,a corporate function with a traditional conservative role and <strong>of</strong>ten severe acceptance problems.When buyers negotiate their contracts on the Internet, they need to be supported with information,knowledge and training on the Internet. When they use an electronic marketplace they need tobe supported within the electronic marketplace. A modern bricks-and-mortar training center andqueuing for a training course (undated by its very nature) are no use to them.Trust is the basis <strong>of</strong> all transactions be it in a traditional or electronic environment. The path totrust is knowledge. In order to build trust and secure transactions knowledge needs to be <strong>of</strong>feredas a service throughout the extended value chain. Such a service is <strong>of</strong>fered through knowledgeportals and e-learning programmes beyond the traditional HRD boundaries. It helps CustomerRelationship Management to improve customer integration and loyalty and purchasing staff toimprove the quality <strong>of</strong> their vendor relationship – through training and knowledge <strong>of</strong>ferings. Aspowered.com - the Dell and Barnes & Noble virtual universities provider - has put it: “Sellers needto teach and buyers want to learn.“Providing such an infrastructure is not trivial. People operate along the lines <strong>of</strong> the extendedvalue chain in virtual environments. Therefore the capacity to capture, represent and distributeknowledge needs to take place exactly in this environment in a fully informated mode. Applicationswhich enable people to do this are in high demand today.