Preface

Dieter Spath

Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Germany

Claus-P. Praeg

Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Germany
Editors

In the field of IT, the markets, business activities, needs and requirements of internal and external service providers and customers are changing in ever-shortening cycles. This forces companies to increase their organizational flexibility not only as far as their structure is concerned but also with regard to established business processes. This is partly achieved by reducing the added value ratio and partly by integrating partners more and more into processes associated with the delivery of products and services. To do this however, companies have to develop the necessary competencies to manage the various partners and procedures, as well as establish processes to ensure high quality services.