Valuating Modular Architectures for Cross-Company Electronic Interaction

The persistent improvements in the costperformance ratio of information technology today facilitate the provision and consumption of electronic business services across corporate boundaries. However, existing technical solutions and organizational approaches are not adequate to support the efficient management of loosely coupled, highly agile business networks which incorporate heterogeneous requirements. To address this challenge, we propose a modular architecture framework for cross-company electronic interaction which covers both organizational and technical aspects. We show its applicability in the field of Swiss public administration and investigate its economic potential based on a novel architecture valuation model which is particularly adequate to capture the value of agility.