In today’s ever more technology-centric world, there are at least five major Next Generation level changes to the computing landscape happening at about the same time: Delivery platforms are shifting (mobility, cloud, social), communication and collaboration channels are being reinvented (Web, mobile, social), the consumer world of technology is driving innovation, and data is opening up and exploding out of the proliferating apps, devices, and sensors that organizations are deploying. Moreover, new generation of workers will be trained and expecting their organizations to provide access to these new technologies. Easy, highly mobile, and social are the mantras of this new generation of IT. The biggest technology influences of the next half decade include cloud computing, social media (or more specifically social business), next-gen mobility, big data and Predictive Analytics. These would not only help the current businesses to survive and thrive but also help build virtual businesses with greater agility. This book focuses on the technology innovations that may help in building virtual businesses and making existing businesses smarter and efficient in their operations. It will help key decision makers understand more about introducing new technologies into businesses. Written with a fictional travel company has the primary example, this book shows how collaborative commerce (a business idea that enables retailers, suppliers, and distributors to share information with one another in a standard business language, benefiting all members of the supply chain) business practices enable trading partners to create, manage, and use data in a shared environment to design, build, and support products throughout their lifecycle, working separately to leverage their core competencies together in a value chain that forms a virtual enterprise.
