Agilität über Unternehmensgrenzen hinaus[Agility across Company boundaries]

Companies often rely on the Know-How of external service providers for the development of software and solutions. Modern forms of work-ing and collaboration change the development of products and services at the same time. How do these trends influence the cooperation and collaboration between companies and their external agile service providers? Purpose The purpose of this academic work is to figure out which steps companies have to take to implement agile working and collaboration with external service providers. Research Methodology Therefore, a case study, including a qualitative survey, was used to find and point out which measures and actions companies have to take, to accomplish the goal of effective implementation of agile collaboration and cooperation. Three core issues were identified, on which basis the research questions regarding the measures will be answered: First, which possibilities companies have, to implement an internal agile set up to collaborate with agile service providers on an equal basis. Second, which contract variants can support and improve the agile cooperation and third, which agile techniques and methods should be used in the agile collaboration. Results The case study results confirm the assumption, that the three identified core issues are essential for effective cooperation in the agile environment. While it was verified on the one hand that contract requirements changed concerning their flexibility and adaptability, it was also verified on the other hand, that the internal setup requires agile drivers, techniques and methods to enable effective cooperation with agile service providers. This article gives an overview of the most important content within the three stated core issues and also gives companies advice on how to build a basis for effective cooperation.