Companies need to clearly demonstrate the benefits from using the Enterprise Collaboration System – and employees will embrace them and turn them into information assets.
Dr. Söhnke Grams
Söhnke is our Managing Director. Before founding IBD, he worked as a social media consultant with companies in the computer games industry. He was also the Worldwide Community Coordinator of a globally leading computer games developer, where he led a location-independent team of Community Managers. He manages the University Competence Center for Collaboration Technologies (UCT), which provides universities with a highly functional collaboration platform. Söhnke’s focus is on KPI-driven Benefits Realisation Management for the Digital Workplace.
An Enterprise Collaboration System that is purposefully built will be – in the long run – an invaluable information asset for any user organisation.
Prof. Dr. Susan P. Williams
Sue is our Research Translation Manager. She is responsible for the translation of academic research findings into useable methods and tools to provide actionable results that benefit organisations. She has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher and consultant in the fields of enterprise information management and the design and implementation of collaboration technologies in organisations. She has provided business advisory to organisations in both the private and public sectors and is a specialist in the development and facilitation of strategic design and analysis workshops. A Computer and Information Scientist by training, she is currently Professor and Head of the Enterprise Information Management Research Group at the University of Koblenz (Germany). She has previously worked at leading universities in the UK (University of Sheffield) and Australia (University of Sydney, UTS, UNSW). As a specialist in human-centred technology design, Sue is committed to interactive collaborations with practitioners and industry partners to understand complex, changing information environments and to improve the design of the digital workplace.
Thousands of collaboration tools to choose from – but we need an integrated and easy-to-use platform for our employees.
Sebastian Bahles
Sebastian is our Project Manager and jack-of-all-trades. After completing his Master's degree in Business Informatics, he was a researcher at the University of Koblenz in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) with a focus on Community Management and the identification of workspace types. Through his intensive work with a wide range of collaborative technologies in various companies, he has an excellent overview of the tool landscape and knows the requirements that companies have regarding their digital workplace. He also teaches at the University of Koblenz and the Euro-FH Hamburg as a lecturer for CSCW and Enterprise Collaboration and educates future leaders about how to empower employees through successful enterprise collaboration.
We should start treating the Enterprise Collaboration System with the same respect as our ERP Systems – and they will be a source for competitive advantage.
Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert
Petra is our IBD Methodology Expert. She is continuously looking for ways to explain the potential of Enterprise Systems in a methodical and structured way. She believes that the sophisticated implementation and use of Business Software can lead to competitive advantage in any organisation – regardless of its industry sector. Petra began her professional career with an apprenticeship as a computer programmer working in Mannesmann, a large German manufacturing company. This was followed by university studies in I&T Management at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). She also completed the CEMS Master in International Management (ESADE, Spain) and spent part of her Doctoral Studies at the University of California (Berkeley, USA). She had engagements as a Professor for Business Applications Systems at the UAS Basel (Switzerland), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) and is currently the head of the BAS Research Group at the University of Koblenz (Germany). For many years she has been working with companies to review and document their IT projects. These experiences have been documented in more than ten books containing articles and case studies about successful enterprise system implementation projects.
History of IBD
Integrated Business Design (IBD) was conceived in October 2009 by Susan Williams and Petra Schubert during their joint research work at the University of Sydney. The objective was to translate their research in the area of technology-supported collaborative work into practical methods and tools that could assist organisations. IBD was initiated as a network of researchers in Universities, who work together with industry partners on the development of the IBD Methodology for Enterprise Collaboration and was founded in 2021 as a company named IBD Integrated Business Design GmbH.