Collaboration Technologies And Change Management Consulting Firms Merge To Provide New Knowledge Management Service Offerings.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 1996--GroupWorX L.L.C. and Collaborative Strategies, best known for founding and content direction of the GroupWare 9X conferences and the best selling groupware book, Groupware Technology and Applications (July, 1995, Prentice Hall) announced today that they are merging their consulting practices to better serve the emerging market for collaboration technologies and knowledge management.

GroupWorX will continue to operate under that name and Collaborative Strategies will become Collaborative Strategies(TM), a GroupWorX Company. David Coleman, Principal Analyst at Collaborative Strategies, will become the Managing Director of the new division.

Collaborative Strategies and GroupWorX each bring important pieces to this new organization. Collaborative Strategies has been consulting to leading edge companies including ICL/TeamWARE, Hewlett Packard, Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Coleman has functioned as industry analyst, consultant and editor of trade publications. He is a valued resource for groupware vendors, groupware users and business writers.

The GroupWorX professionals are highly experienced in change management, knowledge management, and distributed project management. They offer client -specific strategic designs, and have had remarkable success ensuring enthusiastic acceptance by the organizations involved. Some benefits of these knowledge management systems are; higher performance collaborative teams, shorter cycle time in product development and faster organizational learning from real world experience.

"As the groupware market matures, more and more companies look to collaborative technologies to provide competitive advantages." Mr. Coleman reports. "Collaborative technologies are brought into an organization to solve a specific problem. Once that collaborative problem is solved, users are faced with the larger problem of an information explosion due to the collaborative infrastructure. Knowledge Management is the methodology for solving this new problem. Thus, this merger allows us to deal effectively with both the technology and knowledge sides of the issue."

For leading edge corporations pursuing business advantage through better management of their knowledge, Collaborative Strategies will help GroupWorX select the most appropriate technology platform for each client's needs. Collaborative Strategies will also provide market research and training programs for all GroupWorX clients.

For vendors of groupware/collaborative technologies products, GroupWorX will help Collaborative Strategies offer strategy and product marketing services based on end-user experience. This leads to better conceived and marketed products which produce greater life-cycle revenues.

Gordon Stone, Managing Director of GroupWorX states, "We are glad to have Mr. Coleman's groupware expertise as well as his entrepreneurial spirit. The Collaborative Strategies Division will provide creative and innovative market research and implementation solutions to our clients."

In addition to business development and partnerships, Mr. Coleman will run "The Institute for Collaborative Studies" which is focused on creative training and research programs. Current research projects look at how people collaborate on the Inter/IntraNet; the Groupware Buyers Guide, a compilation of 500-600 collaborative tools; and building the "collaborative office." Current training includes: The Business Transformation Game (a role playing game using groupware to teach collaborative behaviors), and a seven-class program that will lead to a certificate in knowledge management. A multi-city, 2- day seminar series on "An Introduction to Groupware" and "Collaborative Infrastructures" is also planned for this fall.

About David Coleman and Collaborative Strategies

David Coleman has been a groupware industry analyst for 7 years and is recognized as a key resource for users and vendors alike. He is founder of the GroupWare '9X conferences and a frequent speaker at industry conferences and trade shows. He is author of Groupware: Technology and Applications (Prentice Hall June 1995), which is being expanded for a second edition to be released the summer of 1996. Mr. Coleman is founder of several industry publications, including (UNIXWorld Magazine and the GroupTalk newsletter), and currently editor of Virtual Workgroups, a new magazine focused on collaborative technologies and distributed organizations.

Mr. Coleman's consulting practice includes clientele from a broad range of industries, including finance, hi-tech, health care and manufacturing and covers many different technical and cultural environments.

Collaborative Strategies can be reached at [phone] (phone), [phone] (fax), [e-mail] (e-mail) or visit the web site at http://www.collaborate.com

GroupWorX works with clients to design and implement knowledge management processes and systems for large scale businesses. As hands-on practitioners, they partner with clients, to create real business value by building successful Knowledge Management processes and systems.

The GroupWorX team includes over 50 years consulting experience with top general management consulting firms and working with business leaders in many industries to solve key strategic business problems. They have developed skills in a variety of disciplines, and the ability to combine and integrate multiple approaches to conceive and implement transformational changes in large enterprises, such as those brought about by the introduction of Knowledge Management.

GroupWorX can be contacted at [phone] or via e-mail at [e-mail]

CONTACT: Collaborative Strategies

Abby Hyman Kutner, 415/282-9197

[e-mail]