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| Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill H. Gates
Publisher: Business Plus
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $0.38
You Save: $16.57 (98%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (150 reviews)
Sales Rank: 78482
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 470
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0446675962
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780446675963
ASIN: 0446675962
Publication Date: May 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Argues that the capabilities of computers, software, and networks are only beginning to be harnessed, and that companies must start building a modern, digital nervous system now in order to compete quickly and intuitively in the new millennium. Explains how to turn hardware and software into an evolving network of information. Softcover.
Amazon.com Review
So where do you want to go tomorrow? That's the question Bill Gates tries to answer in Business @ the Speed of Thought. Gates offers a 12-step program for companies wanting to do business in the next millennium. The book's premise: Thanks to technology, the speed of business is accelerating at an ever-increasing rate, and to survive, it must develop an infrastructure--a "digital nervous system"--that allows for the unfettered movement of information inside a company. Gates writes that "The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition ... is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose." The book is peppered with examples of companies that have already successfully engineered information networks to manage inventory, sales, and customer relationships better. The examples run from Coca-Cola's ability to download sales data from vending machines to Microsoft's own internal practices, such as its reliance on e-mail for company-wide communication and the conversion of most paper processes to digital ones (an assertion that seems somewhat at odds with the now-infamous "by hand on sheets of paper" method of tracking profits that was revealed during Microsoft's antitrust trial). While Gates breaks no new ground--dozens of authors have been writing about competing on a digital playing field for some time, among them Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian in Information Rules and Patricia Seybold in Customers.com--businesses that want a wakeup call may find this book a ringer. With excerpts in Time magazine, a dedicated Web site, and an all-out media assault, Microsoft is working hard to push Business @ the Speed of Thought into the national dialogue, and for many it will be difficult to see the book as anything but a finely tuned marketing campaign for the forthcoming versions of Windows NT and MS Office. Nevertheless, as Gates has shown time and time again, him, Microsoft, and perhaps even this book you may ignore at your own peril. --Harry C. Edwards
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| Customer Reviews: Read 145 more reviews...
 A big disappointment December 28, 2008
I expected a lot from this book. It is after all by a person considered a thought leader by many. Unfortunately it seems more like a book written to take advantage of Bill Gates' big draw name, with nothing new or insightful in it.
I would be quite embarrassed to put my name on this book. It basically tries to put forward a fancy framework for corporate and global networks. In other words, the internet, something Microsoft famously completely missed the boat on and is still to this day trying to catch up on. Don't waste your time or your money, other than as a lesson in how corporates often completely miss the forest for the trees, especially when they own a very lucrative monopoly on a small piece of a much bigger picture.
There's nothing new or insightful here. Here's the short version to save you a whole lot of time trying to decipher the "insight": "Networks are good for business." Profound isn't it?
PHB Fodder June 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Do you remember that 90's Dilbert strip where the boss is listening to tapes on management-speak? In the strip, the boss repeats phrases and sentences as if it were a foreign language, and becomes gradually more confident with verbose, quasi-technical jargon. This was the first thing I thought of while listening to this book.
If you are looking to study management-speak as a foreign language, _Business @ The Speed of Thought_ is likely to be the next best thing to a Berlitz course. Otherwise, it's a completely unremarkable business book that has a bit of future prophecy. The observations and predictions do date this book; 1999 predictions about knowledge-workers and about using the internet for education seem uninspired at best.
 Interesting Book November 18, 2007
"Business @ the Speed of Thought" is an interesting book written by Bill Gates, a very well-known person of Microsoft fame. A lot has changed since 1999 across the business and technology sectors, but many of the lessons laid out in this book still apply as well today as they did in the late 1990s.
One of the key themes/lessons stressed by this book, that of "networking" in the context of teams and relationships, has become more visible, important and relevant since the book's publication, in my opinion.
A number of the approaches espoused by this book, including "digitizing internal processes," "digitizing relationships with business partners" and "build and utilize the power of networks," among others, are touted today by a number of companies as keys to their success.
Whatever one's opinion might be of Microsoft, "Business @ the Speed of Thought" provides an interesting perspective on business and technology from the point of view of one of technology's most successful operators.
 Information velocity September 15, 2007
In fifteen months we will reach Bill Gates' proposed milestone (10 years) of an era where information velocity, and our ability to deal with it at 'The speed of thought' will make or break any business. The tech-bubble crash has certainly dampened the progress, but the book is nonetheless undeniably relevant - arguably even more so in today's fast-paced world. Companies such as Wal-Mart, Mark & Spencer, FedEx and many others are prime examples of lessons well learned. Don't be left in the dust, build your own digital nervous system before it is too late.
Lessons Learned September 4, 2007
I wished I read the book in the late 90s. Most of what Bill Gates said is true today.
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