Information and Assistance Service in the field of IT targeted to a network of industrial cooperative societies
(Extranet)	http://www.legacoop.it

Final Report : executive summary html version - Pdf version

1. STATE OF THE ART AND OBJECTIVES

The Lega Nazionale Cooperative is one of main apex organization of the italian cooperative movement, carries on an activity of representation, tutelage and assistance of cooperative enterprises; 10.000 enterprises operating in different economic sectors (such as industry, construction, agriculture, consumer goods, services, housing and insurances) are associated within it, with a workforce of more than 200.000 employed workers and a global annual turnover of 24 billions Euro, and more than 4.000.000 members

Among the cooperatives there is an unsatisfactory situation concerning the use of new information and communication technologies (less than 20% of the companies use advanced systems of telecommunication and very few have an own Internet site at their disposal).

There are several reasons for this technological delay: an insufficient knowledge of the opportunities deriving from the use of the IT; an inadeguate dissemination of the IT themes; lack of investments; lack of a networking culture among the companies...)

In this context the general objective of the I.T.Coop project is therefore to increase the awareness of the cooperatives concerning the potentials and benefits of a better and more thorough knowledge of the themes of the Information Technology, in order to obtain a positive impact on the enterprises and the different business functions (organization, production, marketing and distribution, research and development).

The tool that has been conceived to implement this objective is an experimental "Service", to be constituted within the organization (i.e. the already existing office for new information and communication technologies and the linked associations) which will provide information and assistance on the subjects of the I.T. to a network of industrial cooperatives.

The results expected by the implementation of the project are essentially the following:

• the experimentation of an efficient system of information and services, which after a test on a sample of 30 small and medium manufacturing enterprises could be extended to all the cooperatives of the sector;
• the increase of the level of knowledge among the same number of managers, who once more could act as vehicles of dissemination of knowledge among other managers;
• the design of a method based on the cycle of information-counseling-diagnose-planning, which, after a period of testing and convalidation, could be adopted in other situations, in Italy, as well as in other European union member countries;
• the elaboration of plans for the adaptation of enterprises to I.T. systems and the consequent introduction and adoption of advanced information instruments
• the constitution of a permanent system of I.T. services and of a network of manufacturing enterprises whch, further on, could be integrated on an extended level in Italy and in Europe

2. THE WORK CONTENT

The "Information and assistance service" is not going to be a completely new structure, but will be integrated in the framework of the office for new information and communication technologies of the organization, in a position halfway between supply (advanced and innovative services of information and communication available on the market) and demand (existing and potential demand of such services by industrial cooperatives, which are similar in their work-sectors, industrial problematics, territory and which are functionally linked in a network).

The tasks of the "service" are going to be mainly the following:

• incentive and solicitation: to discover the potential demand and information needs in the network of cooperatives
• link with the supply : disclosure of privileged channels towards the providers of I.T. services (telecommunication companies, "software houses", designers of information systems, Internet providers), in order to favor the cooperatives access to more qualified services at a lower cost;
• increase of awareness concerning the continuously expanding importance of the I.T.: to promote a growing consciousness on the benefits of the introduction of the I.T. among the cooperatives (in terms of improvement of the organizational, productive, distributive and marketing performance) and, on the other hand, on the risk of "staying behind" of the competitors in the sector;
• collection and dissemination of information: to keep the cooperatives in the network updated on the most interesting and pertinent innovations in communication systems;
• launch of the consulting activity on behalf of the cooperatives who intend to invest in I.T.: assistance in the diagnosis of information systems, in the planning of adaptation-programmes and in the choice of new I.T. services catering towards specific business needs;
• information sharing point for the exchange and transfer of the best experiences already implemented among similar companies on a national, as well as transnational level;
• animation of the network: to stimulate the active participation of the cooperatives through publication in the network of useful information, participation in telematic forums, etc.
• monitoring of the activities and evaluation of the results of the experimentation;
• dissemination of the successful implementations/best practices on an European level and integration with other European networks.

WORK-PROGRAMME

The project is divided into the following chronological phases:

• Phase I: Selection of the cooperatives taking part in the project
• Phase II: Diagnosis of the cooperatives and their information needs
• Phase III: Elaboration of the operative programme
• Phase IV: Implementation (Seminars; direct consulting; telematic applications; experimental training over distance; publications)
• Phase V: Monitoring and evaluation
• Phase VI: Dissemination

3. DELIVERABLES RELATING TO THE TASKS

The concrete results deriving directly from the planned activities are diverse in relation to the different operative levels (dissemination, training, consulting ).

Regarding the dissemination, the deliverables of the project will consist in:

• lecture notes related to the seminars held by experts on the IT services designed for different business functions (organization, marketing,...);
• an "IT manual" with contents of general interest for an increase of awareness of the operators, regarding the strategic importance and prospectives of the IT in the production cycle and the use of the Internet and it's derivates;
• articles and special features in the publications catering to the cooperative enterprise sector;
• telematic publication of news and data through the organization’s Intranet.

Regarding the training activity, the deliverables of the project will consist in:

• organization of workshop-type seminars, both with an introductive, general-outlook focus and a more specialized focus concerning the operative impact on the single business functions
• demonstrations and business simulations of different IT services and application packages "onlocation" at the cooperatives
• analysis of IT implementation practices in- and outside of the cooperative sector: comparison of the situations before and after the introduction of the IT.

Regarding the consulting activity, the deliverables of the project will consist in:

• analysis of the IT state of the art among the cooperatives participating in the initiative,in order to plan steps for their application: costs, hardware, software, human resource training, timetable, ...;
• technical assistance in the choice of IT services catering towards the companies' specific needs.

In general, the project attempts to:

• determine the state of the art of IT knowledge and use-patterns among the sample of selected cooperatives and, extrapolating, within the cooperative industrial system (how do the cooperatives act?)
• mark the position of the system's technological distance from the competitors ( how much are they behind? )
• estimate the degree of interest and fertility of the cooperatives concerning the introduction of IT services (how much are they inclined to innovate? )
• single out the most promising and adeguate methods to favor this introduction (how can they do it?)

4. DURABILITY AND REPRODUCIBILITY OF THE PROJECT

The project has an experimental character and attempts to verify the response capacity of the cooperative managers regarding the actions to incentive broader use of the IT.

Nevertheless, the proposing organization, being conscious of the growing strategic importance of the IT, will engage itself to maintain the service with it's own resources, also when the project is concluded. It will be aided in this through the technical support of it's partners (Telecom Italia, Telecom Italia Mobile, Cineca, Isinet), who guarantee the highest range of economic and professional reliability for the continuity and reproducibility of the project.

5. THE PARTNERSHIP

• TELECOM ITALIA: Is the leading Tlc carrier in italy. More than 100.000 workers, million of customers (www.telecomitalia.it)
• T.I.M.: Is the leading wireless Tlc operator in Italy with more than 17 millions of customers (www.tim.it).
• CINECA: Is the more important university consortium for the I.C.T. (www.cineca.it)
• ISINET: Is an Internet Service provider (www.isinet.it)
• ERVET: Is a public regional consultant organization for SME (www.ervet.it).

6. THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION AND THE CONSEQUENT BENEFITS

The proposing organization is integrated in a wide ranging context of international relations, is a member of the International Alliance of Cooperatives and participates in the European organizations of the cooperative movement.

The project will therefore offer an opportunity for other organizations of enterprises to have access to all the information concerning the dissemination methods adopted, the different kinds of consulting and assistance and the solutions identified for the single companies. Moreover the files concerning the most significant cases of success ("best practices") are going to be elaborated and disseminated, contributing to the construction of a European database.

7. THE SOCIAL IMPACT

The project is expected to produce it's effects on three different levels:

• on the managing level, through the acquistion of a more evoluted mentality concerning the benefits of the IT in the context of the Information society;
• on the company level, through a stronger incentive to use the IT services;
• on the territorial level, where the use of the new IT technologies is going to contribute to increase the overall awareness on the subject.

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