Business Networking Systems: Characteristics and Lessons Learned

Designing relationships among business units is of growing competitive relevance. The networking among businesses is largely enabled by interorganizational information systems (IOS) which have evolved since the 1960s. However, in many companies primary investments have been made in the area of enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) and it is only recently that these systems are complemented with networking capabilities. We refer to this specific development path towards IOS as Business Networking Systems (BNS). We will describe the major challenges for these systems, distinguish three main types of BNS and present criteria for characterizing BNS. These classifications will be used in three case studies which serve to identify techniques and lessons learned in designing BNS. We conclude that methodologies for BNS-projects should consider these lessons as integral elements which sustain adoption and business orientation.