FUD Factor

Back when he was vice president of information technology atnow-defunct Goldman Industrial Group of Vermont, anautomotive capital equipment provider in Springfield, Lowryhad a vision nearly a decade ago of how electroniccollaboration would help his company and his customers workbetter together, cutting cost, improving quality, increasingresponsiveness and improving time to market. Back then, thetechnology piece was missing from the collaborationpuzzle. But Lowry was convinced collaboration was sosensible that anyone could see the payoffs.

And perhaps Goldman's customers and suppliers could see potentialbenefits, but long-standing mistrust - both inside and outside the wallsof the enterprise - proved insurmountable. Before bringing his message ofcollaboration to outside partners, Lowry had to start within theorganization. There he found enough skepticism to sink the wholeendeavor.

"The reaction was, What's in it for me? Why should I do this? It'smore work for us," says Lowry, who last fall cofounded Global LocationServices, a provider of global positioning systems in Williamstown,N.J. With an extensive background in both manufacturing and IT, plus aboatload of charisma, he managed at last to convince people internallyon the Vermont sales team that collaborating externally was the rightthing to do. Then he had to wait for his salespeople to provide himthe right contacts at their customer companies. Then he had to get thesales guys up to speed on collaboration - at least enough to soundmarginally knowledgeable on the subject when meeting with outsideparties alongside Lowry.

When Goldman reps finally met with their partners and customers, itwas more of the same. "You'd need someone from the other side's ITdepartment, the head person in charge of the plant, your sales guy andyour plant guy," says Lowry. When at last all the right people werearound the table, good feelings did not exactly flow. "The arms arefolded. They're shaking their heads. They're looking tired. They wantto know, Do you really want to collaborate, or do you just want us todo something for you?" he says.