Fortunately, IT collaboration helps preserve the credibility of any E-business idea that business managers float: Each presenter is flanked by an IT sponsor who can assist with technical questions from the committee.

The new era of collaboration often starts at the CEO level. At First International, in Hartford, Conn., Silvers knew that for a successful E-business implementation, close collaboration with Garner was essential. In the process, he had to change his way of thinking about IT. "As CEO, I'm the one most inclined to believe that technology is this imponderable black box and that technology solutions are expensive and very time-consuming to develop," he says.

Silvers searched for companies well into their global Internet business-to-business efforts, concentrating on the industrial marketplace--chemicals, steel, and plastic. He and Garner set up meetings with IT, business, and sales executive teams from 10 companies, hoping to gain a sense of direction for their own efforts. Why the industrial market? Silvers knew such companies might be interested in the bank as a strategic partner for their commercial customers who require financing.

The breakthrough for First International's business-to-business implementation came within 48 hours of one of the first of these meetings. "John [Garner] had the whole process delineated, illustrated, and ready to go at very little cost," Silvers says. "The entire process was mirrored out for how information would need to flow. I was surprised."

During the course of their collaboration, Silvers has learned a great deal about IT, and Garner, who had never been involved in the business of the bank, has become conversant in acquisitions, loan processing, disbursement, and servicing.

Throughout First International, the pace of change and the newness of a technology-driven marketplace is providing excellent learning opportunities, Silvers says. As the company moves toward E-business, workers across every department are learning together, hashing out what their E-business model will be. "We have technical people sitting in a room [with salespeople] theorizing all the way through implementation," he says. "That never used to happen. And because technical people are involved, our sales staff is becoming more technology-savvy. We're starting to see them develop leadership with their own staff along the way."

Meetings are only the starting point; after they've wrapped up, the sales staff is expected to implement the strategy, involving yet more cross-discipline collaboration. In addition, "The head of IT is now called on for soup-to-nuts conceptualizing--leading people, cajoling them, and training them," says Silvers. "It's made our IT people better managers, too."

There will be formal training as well. Silvers plans to send all of First International's executive managers, including those from IT, to Yale's Management School for executive education, which he describes as "very heavy into organizational behavior, working in teams, and leadership." This year, IT staffers will attend sessions on the core business--banking, financial accounting, and statements, for example. Outside trainers who worked with the sales staff will offer sales training to IT staff.

Meanwhile, colleges and universities are pushing hard to meet rapidly growing demand for cross-training. For example, Stanford University's graduate school of business in Stanford, Calif., will launch a three-day E-commerce program in September (it's already oversubscribed); and Bentley College is building a multimillion-dollar E-commerce education facility set to open in July on its Waltham, Mass., campus (see sidebar story, "MBA-IT Cross-Training At The University Level").

Executives and managers should be completely open to continual learning and ready to absorb new information as fast as they can, says Bill Miller, former board chairman of Borland International Inc., professor emeritus, and one of the co-founders of the executive education program at Stanford. The one- and two-week programs hosted by the university, at a cost of $6,300 and $11,500, respectively, bring in as many as 50 executives from companies around the world. Usually the group includes five CEOs and five CIOs, with the balance consisting of direct reports, such as VPs and business-unit mangers. In addition to learning from one another, they also come to glean insights from Silicon Valley notables who serve as guest lecturers.

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Illustration by Jon Conrad
Photo of Miller by Edward Carreon