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e-Business: Roadmap for Success
Stern is the president of Information Markets Corp..
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The Scenario
"e-Business" is one of those terms, like "campaign finance reform", that seems to have a different meaning every time you hear it. For some, Amazon.com is the archetype e-Business, representing a new breed on online commerce. Others would point to Yahoo, which ships nothing but bits. Kalakota and Robinson do not address either of these crowds; their challenge is the transformation of large existing organizations with the introduction of superior technology in decision-making, sales, procurement, and other aspects of their businesses.
Both authors are consultants to large companies looking to improve their use of technology. In this book, Kalakota and Robinson's technique is to define the terms of art in each area, explain the advantages to installing a modern computerized solution, mention some of the leading providers, and provide examples of firms which have successfully implemented such a system. They close each chapter with a "memo to the CEO" which summarizes the material discussed and might serve as a template for documents to be created by the reader.
The presumed audience for the book seems to be lower- or middle- management at large organizations, people who have (or want to have) responsibility for technology plans, and who need to catch up with the whirlwind of acronyms which populate the pages of Infoworld. This book is for those who have heard the acronym ERP, aren't sure what it means, but suspect that their jobs depend on it. It would do equally well for readers responsible for technology at a companies with legacy systems, who want to justify increases in their budgets by arguing that the competition has adopted superior software and practices.
These practises include the obvious chapters on the use of customer relationship management software to acquire new customers and increase the value of existing customers, the use supply chain management software to coordinate the delivery of the money and factors necessary to make products. They also discuss less obvious, but perhaps even more important issues. For example, they cover the Cluetrain-like need to build products and services in response to customer demand. They discuss e-Business employee retention policy, and suggest that employees should get paid more if they perform better. That's not a bad idea at any business.
The use of case studies generally strengthens the book. One of their most powerful techniques is to contrast successful companies with unsuccessful ones, and to draw out the differences between them. Why is it that you can order a minutely customized computer online, but can't do the same with a Xerox copier? However, some of the examples do seem trite (another puffy biography of Michael Dell adds little to my life).
What's Bad?Given the book's corporate focus and the credentials of its authors, it was surprisingly sloppy in its details. I found several errors or typos (SAP's R/1 released in 1993? Please) and some mixed metaphors (such as the reference to the "Lemmings in the Pied Piper story").
The book is not for people who want to do something new or innovative. It drives the reader to adopt the solutions which others in the industry have already adopted, both in practices and often in particular products. To a typical Slashdot reader, who probably identifies with the underdog, this may grow bothersome. The authors definitely espouse a "me too" strategy.
The "Memo to the CEO" section at the end of each chapter grew tiresome. It was a cute idea but they overused it.
Alexander Pope once said "A little learning is a dangerous thing." Many people will read a book and think this makes them into experts. God help anybody whose boss reads this thing and decides to run with it. It does not reach anywhere near the depth necessary to allow you to oversee the implementation of the systems it discusses.
What's Good?To the credit of its authors, "e-Business: Roadmap for Success" provides a balanced view, talks about failed implementations as well as successes, and does not try to sell technology as a "magic bullet."
Ultimately, I have to judge any book of this type on the basis of whether or not I learn anything from it. In this case, I did. It's a somewhat voyeuristic understanding, since "e-Business" teaches of practices at companies both different from and larger than my own. However, if my company should grow by a couple orders of magnitude, having read this book will leave me better prepared to implement systems for continued success.
So What's In It For Me?A useful review of the best e-Business techniques employed at the end of the century by large companies. The right reader can use this book to design proposals that might lead to improved efficiency, quality, and customer relations.
You can accquire this book at Amazon.
Table of Contents
- From e-Commerce to e-Business
- e-Business Trend Spotting
- Think e-Business Design, not Just Technology
- Constructing the e-Business Architecture
- Customer Relationship Management: Integrating Processes to Build Relationships
- Selling Chain Management: Transforming Sales into Interactive Order Acquisition
- Enterprise Resource Planning: The e-Business Backbone
- Supply-Chain Management: Interenterprise Fusion
- E-Procurement: The Next Wave of Cost Reduction
- Knowledge-Tone Applications: The Next Generation of Decision Support Systems
- Developing the e-Business Design
- Translating the e-Busines Strategy into Action
On a more serious note, no matter what people write in books, and no matter how important they are, I am inherently skeptical of books that claim to teach you how to get rich. Add to that a title with an "e-" in the name of it, and I'm VERY skeptical. I guess I'm just jaded...but to me, the road to success in e-business is the same as the road to success in other businesses: Lots of capital, and hard hard work.
Werd.
Seriously though, books like this are just a small step up from "How to get rich like me" infomercials. They're next to worthless. Companies trying to make it rich online need to realize one thing: It's not easy. Everone who's making [serious] money off the Internet is doing so in niche markets. They're using tightly integrated systems with thoughtful interface designs. Roadmap schmoadmap -- it's different for everyone.
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"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Recently I ran across this article on assumptions people make when building their e-commerce sites. Thought it might be relevant.
"E-commerce myths"
Given the rate of accelerating change, this sounds like a low-priority text, as it doesn't address the more important shift in business ownership/relationship. Customers are empowered by technology, and ultimately they will demand to be part "owners" in their businesses. After all, customers provide attention, info, and cash. People who can afford to buy stock in Amazon, E-bay, Yahoo, AOL etc are already "owning" a piece of the action, and thus further motivated to trade in "their" channels.
Still, the current IPO model seems like a gigantic (and breakable) chain of greedy fools. Intelligence will route around it, using the far more powerful "chaordic" model envisioned by Dee Hock and partly implemented by Visa. (a huge info-biz w/ 30 yrs experience growing 20% annually). Visa defines "ownership" as non-transferable "right to participate". Participants cooperate and compete for relationships, not ownership. The chaordic model is a decentralized magnet for the greatest resouce of all: human ingenuity.
Regarding "efficiency".. it's probably over-rated: "As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place new value on the one human ability that can't be automated: emotion. Imagination, myth, ritual -- the language of emotion -- will affect everything from our purchasing decisions to how well we work with others.. ideas like quality, efficiency, and reliability will no longer sell products."
How well we work with others (trade) has a lot more to do with "relationship" than "ownership".
Could this be the first pricking of the e-commerce bubble ?
Or is it just, as the Register claimed, that Levi's couldn't ever get both legs to be the same length ?
Step 1: Figure out what you want to sell.
Step 2: Dup a bunch of venture capital vultures to sponsor you.
Step 3: Create prototype of product (if it compiles - ship it!)
Step 4: Put large glossy advertisements everywhere about how great your product will be, and how it's better than everything else on the market.
Step 5: Have Jesse Berst write an article slamming linux (conversely, if your product uses linux, have him praise the "paradigm shift in the third wave post-modern computing era - ie: linux").
Step 6: Claim you're "going up against Microsoft" to maximize public appeal and get your stock up.
Step 7: Release product at exorbinant price.
Step 8: Sell all your stock, leave country.
Step 9: Your company gets bought by Microsoft.
Step 10: Microsoft repeats step 4,5, and 7. Also claims it's "new" and "innovative".
Step 11: Slashdot gets around to posting about how aweful M$' latest release is.
Step 12: People buy it anyway. It's Microsoft, afterall...
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