Development of an automatic marketplace using virtual collaboration

Abstract

Original scientific paper New product development is vital for the development of business enterprises and the society where the enterprise operates. The paper presents a case example of an automated marketplace development, which took place in the P-ino d.o.o. company. Developing such a complex product required the participation of experts from different areas, and it included also students, who definitely contributed to greater creativity and openness of the development team. More than 85 % of all the communication within the development team took place in virtual form. Testing of the finished prototype was also more or less virtual. Virtual communication in the development of such a complex product as an automated marketplace proved to be a very suitable method of interpersonal communication within the development team in all development phases of the product. It was particularly efficient because the members of the development team had different skills and were coming from different institutions and companies. Keywords: communication; industrial application; virtual product development team Razvoj automatizirane tržnice pomoću virtualne suradnjeIzvorni znanstveni članak Razvoj novog proizvoda od bitne je važnosti za razvoj poslovnih poduzeća i za društvenu zajednicu u kojoj poduzeće djeluje. U radu se daje opis razvoja automatizirane tržnice u poduzeću P-ino d.o.o. Razvoj takvog složenog proizvoda zahtijevao je sudjelovanje stručnjaka iz različitih područja, a također je uključio i studente, koji su sigurno pridonijeli većoj kreativnosti i otvorenosti razvojnog tima. Više od 85 % ukupne komunikacije razvojnog tima odvijao se u virtualnom obliku. Ispitivanje završnog prototipa također je bilo više manje virtualno. Virtualna komunikacija u razvoju tako složenog proizvoda kao što je automatizirana tržnica dokazala se kao vrlo pogodna metoda za međusobnu komunikaciju razvojnog tima u svim razvojnim fazama proizvoda. Bila je posebno učinkovita jer su članovi razvojnog tima posjedovali različite vještine i dolazili iz različitih institucija i poduzeća.Ključne riječi: industrijska primjena; komunikacija; virtualni tim za razvoj proizvoda

Evolution of Communication Skills in Virtual Product Development Process: Experience From EGPR

“…In embodiment design or prototyping stage, that is the later stage of product development process, the exchanged information consists mostly of technical facts, resulting in a smaller need for negotiation, argumentation and potential misunderstanding, therefore e-mails can be a main communication channel, while video-conferencing serves mainly for taking final decisions. This is in agreement with other projects carried out by authors [17], where up to 60-70% of all communication was done by face-to-face and Skype (cumulative of both types of communication).…”

“…Due to the virtual nature of development teams, most of the work process requires various means of electronic communication [17] and virtual team members have to learn communication skills in order to facilitate virtual NPD. Virtual team members also need to find out ways to express what in a "real" environment is expressed non-verbally [13].…”

“…have to be used concurrently and without hesitation [12]. Thus, it is recommended to respond to each message that is distributed among team member in order to know that the message was delivered and that the intent of the message was achieved.Due to the virtual nature of development teams, most of the work process requires various means of electronic communication [17] and virtual team members have to learn communication skills in order to facilitate virtual NPD. Virtual team members also need to find out ways to express what in a "real" environment is expressed non-verbally [13].…”

“…For that reason, synchronous types of communication are fostered to facilitate social presence and personal engagement, which are important because they increase personal commitment and ease interpersonal dialogue [14]. Technical improvements of internet communication tools processing and high-speed internet have enabled an effective transition of synchronous types of communication also into the virtual environment [17]. Some researchers claim [20] that humans are not well adapted to asynchronous communication tools regardless to fast technological development of digital communication tools.…”