Translating great ideas into new contexts saves time and money and raises the average level of outcome quality and implementation. It saves the organization from repeating mistakes in parallel or duplicating efforts. Of course, inventions will require modification as they change environments, and they may never fit exactly. The fundamental requirement is a robust corporate memory, with systems for people to contribute ideas, experiences, and work solutions and to access the contributions, searching both broadly across disciplines, as well as precisely, based on their current needs. Web-based intranets are particularly suited to supporting such contribution and retrieval and for enabling unexpected connections and discoveries.
People are already familiar with surfing the Web.
Two attributes distinguish this and the next mode of collaboration. Second, the collaborators will probably not know each other, so they have not developed the levels of trust and rapport inherent in the first two modes of collaboration. The inventor may not even be with the organization anymore. The system must help users make the leap of faith necessary to use somebody else s solution. Identify the originators of the idea or solution.