Conventional coordination covers all activities relating to the procurement, transport, transshipment, and storage of goods. Coordination is concerned with the material flow (raw materials, interim and final products) but also involves providing companies with services and information.
Nowadays, the development of electronic information and communication technologies affects all spheres of life. Naturally, it significantly influences economic life, including coordination. As a result, nowadays, it is possible to speak about electronic coordination as a highly prospective field for further development.
In researching the problem of electronic coordination, it is primarily necessary to dwell upon the methods traditionally used in related research. It is possible to use phone inquiries and face-to-face interviews with companies implementing electronic coordination in their business. Also, it is possible to interview management consultants and IT suppliers.
Nowadays, electronic information and communication technologies are widely used in coordination. As a rule, it is commonly used in buying, selling, and material-follow transactions. It is necessary to point out that coordination services providers use electronic coordination wider than companies running in manufacturing and trade.
The advantages of electronic coordination are clear in the current situation since it creates new operating models that provide a company with a competitive advantage compared to the companies using conventional coordination. It also allows development, efficiently managing larger entities, and correct information in constantly changing market situations.
Nonetheless, it is necessary to emphasize that electronic coordination is a relatively new field and is making its first steps in contemporary business. In such a situation, the obstacles and challenges companies face implementing electronic coordination are natural. These obstacles and challenges may be singled out: scarce financial resources for investments, lack of capabilities of network parties, lack of standards, and challenges in integrating inter-company information systems.
However, electronic coordination is still quite popular due to the perspective of business process re-engineering skills since it allows the use of technologies to support business processes.
Thus, electronic coordination is a very perspective field that needs further research to provide better opportunities for its proper implementation and wide use.