Note from the author: Content for this paper was created by assessing several emerging social networking initiatives from seven supply chain and four ERP companies, as well as the Descartes Community. The intent of this paper is to highlight the unique attributes of Descartes’ approach.
Our generation lives in a more informed and open world, one that is supported by both business and social networks. Globalization is enabled, to a great degree, by these networks which support creative commercial relationships and social understanding. However, many of these networks, though they provide connectivity, do not, per se, foster truly meaningful collaboration. Surely, to some degree that may have been their intent, but the broader social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have become ‘marketing vehicles,’ at least as far as business is concerned. This is the case, as well, with the biggest search engines. Gone are the days when you could easily search for the highly relevant companies or content you were looking for. The Google search engine is littered with advertising and abandoned web projects, keeping the serious professional from compiling useful and relevant information and finding like-minded professionals and organizations to share and work with.