Collaboration software emerges

Interactive product development tools that can decrease design time and cost, enhance quality, and improve engineering processes are now widely available.

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines collaborate as “to work jointly with others in an intellectual endeavor,” and “to cooperate with the enemy.” Bearing in mind security concerns in engineering design, the two definitions may be combined as: collaborate-work concurrently with others on product development that is secure from unauthorized interference. However it is defined, collaboration is becoming increasingly essential as companies struggle to improve their product-design cycle times and integrate more effectively with their suppliers.

Collaboration tools can also have an unsettling effect on an organization. When communications are improved within a large, geographically diverse product development organization, the effect is an increased evaluation and acceptance of product change, giving rise to a much greater frequency of design changes. This situation can easily spiral out of control without effective change management and tracking tools, which can then increase the workload of designers and engineers and sometimes slow them down.