Enterprise-level groupware choices: Evaluating Lotus Notes and Intranet-based solutions

Abstract. This paper considers collaborative software at the enterprise level, specifically Lotus Notes and alternatives which use Intranet-based (World Wide Web) technologies. We examine the strategic reasons, both short-term and long-term, motivating firms ’ choices in the decision phase and organizational issues in the implementation phase in three exploratory case studies. We review prior coordination technology literature to show that our focus on the decision faced by senior management of which groupware system to implement is a useful and novel perspective to pursue. We argue that this choice, and its consequences, is of crucial importance to the firm. To understand more fully the nature of the decision, we consider a thematic pair of related issues: Internet standards and interoperability. Why are so-called ‘Open Systems ’ a major factor to some firms and not important to others? Why is the proprietary nature of Lotus Notes a stumbling block to some firms and a strategic advantage to others? We explore enterprise-level groupware expectations and requirements in our case studies to address these interesting questions. The final section focuses on predicting change to understand when an organization might reverse its initial enterprise-wide collaborative strategy