Workplace e-collaboration in practice identifying preconditions for successfully implementing e-collaboration in organizations

This paper delivers the first results of our ongoing research activities regarding workplace e-collaboration. The main objective is to identify types of application scenarios for e-collaboration within organizations which will ensure regular and extensive use. We first give an overview of the current state, definitions and the need for action regarding workplace e-collaboration, list our research objectives and then given an overview of our applied research methodology approach. After describing our first results focusing on the preconditions of e-collaboration in the areas of company culture, organization as well as technology, we are presenting these findings as well as the need for further research towards answering our main research question: "In which situations do people tend to use e-collaboration technologies rather than face-to-face collaboration? Where does this application of technology provide added-value to both, the organization and the employee?"