Collaboration is the key to the future

First, the buzz was around e-procurement strategies, then it was supply-chain management - now, the next trend towards gaining a competitive edge is collaborative development. At the annual EyeforChem USA conference and exposition (Oct. 2-4; Philadelphia, PA), Kevin Cronin, global ebusiness director at Ticona, the technical polymers business of Celanese AG, offered some insights on the future. In his keynote address, he proclaimed that "web-based collaborative development that meets everexpanding customer needs is rapidly becoming the next wave in the use of the Internet in industrial business, and will increase significantly in the years to come."

"Collaborative-development tools …