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E-Business: Roadmap for Success

by Marcia Robinson, Don Tapscott, and Ravi Kalakota

This is a book for managers and organizational planners, but it commits none of the sins typical of such books. It neither oversimplifies technical matters nor serves as a mere platform for catchy phrases and obtuse illustrations. e-Business 2.0 is properly focused on the big technologies on which successful companies will capitalize. Kalakota and Robinson argue that it's a good idea to supplement live salespeople with self-service sales facilities, such as those on a Web site. They call this a part of selling-chain management.

The authors also explain how inefficiencies in the selling chain can make it prohibitively expensive to provide built-to-order products, which consumers increasingly want. They then present solutions: Internet and customer relationship management (IRM and CRM) software, sales automation systems, and proposal-automation tools. In each case, they cite specific examples (usually companies and products), enabling readers to dig deeper into specifics if they want. Similar attention goes to enterprise resource planning (ERP), trend-spotting tools, and half a dozen other technologies. Read this guide as you think about how to make strategic changes in your company's operating practices. --David Wall

Topics covered: Recent developments in technology that change the way companies do business, particularly in terms of determining and fulfilling customers' needs and interacting smoothly with vendors. More broadly, this book deals with sharing information efficiently among all relevant parties inside and outside an organization. Technologies covered: Internet sales infrastructures, customer relationship management (CRM) suites, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, knowledge management tools, and data warehousing and analysis products.

Andrew B. Whinston, Hugh Cullen Chair Professor of Information Systems, Economics and Computer Science, Graduate School of Business, University of Texas
"This is the best book on e-Business for the decision-maker. It provides a great overview of the e-Business landscape."

Mohanbir Sawhney, Tribune Professor of Electronic Commerce and Technology, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
"This is the first book on e-Business to combine a clarity of vision that will help you to appreciate the true significance of e-Business, with a rigorous roadmap for reinventing your business design. If you want to avoid being blindsided by your competition, you must make this book required reading in your organization."

Dr. Frances Frei, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School
"This is the book for creating a serious e-Business strategy. A must-read for managers who are creating tomorrow's e-business companies today."

Alan Taetle, Former Executive Vice President of MindSpring and General Partner of the Venture Capital Firm, Noro-Moseley Partners
"This book is a must-read for any company who has not completely re-invented itself since the Internet exploded onto the business world a few years ago."

David M. Alschuler, Vice President, e-Business and Enterprise Applications, Aberdeen Group, Inc.
"e-Business is the first book I have read which captures in any depth the full spectrum of business processes that are being re-defined and improved by leveraging the Internet and its associated technologies. Equally important, it relates these re-defined processes to underlying business objectives and benefits. This book is going stimulate a lot of thinking in corporate boardrooms and executive suites."

Dr. Alan Baratz, President, Java Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
"e-Business: Roadmap for Success provides unique insight into the emerging electronic business place. Economies around the world are undergoing a wholesale rejuvenation; businesses are re-inventing themselves. In this new economy, the Internet and technologies like the Java platform have helped businesses streamline business processes, have helped companies compete in new ways and have engendered all together new types of business opportunities. It's clear we're on the cusp of a new era. e-Business: Roadmap for Success serves as a guidebook to the new electronic business place where the rules of engagement are changing and where only one thing is certain: the status quo will not be maintained."

Book Description

In the best-selling first edition of this book, Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson offered breakthrough guidance for establishing successful e-Business infrastructures. Now, less than two years later, they've thoroughly revamped it to reflect the massive changes that have taken place in the rapidly changing e-Business marketplace -- and to give executives an invaluable roadmap to the next stage of their e-Business transformations. Discover why some companies are achieving extraordinary success with e-Business, while others' e-Business initiatives are collapsing -- and master powerful new techniques for executing on e-Business strategy. Like the best-selling first edition, e-Business: Roadmap for Success is grounded in detailed case studies, and in the authors' extensive experience in implementing enterprise e-business initiatives.

e-Commerce is changing the shape of competition, the dynamics of the customer relationship, the speed of fulfillment, and the nature of leadership. In the face of change, is your management

Willing to cannibalize its existing channels with a risky, untested new one? Creating a click-and-mortar service infrastructure that gives customers the same experience through all the channels? Digitizing the supply chain and linking up with competitors to reduce costs further?

Managers and companies everywhere are at a crossroad. With so many ways to go, which road will lead to success? What roadblocks will need to be navigated? Which business models, management strategies, and tactics will ensure success? What will the characteristics of the next generation of business applications be, and which vendors will lead in delivering them? To whom can managers turn for help? If you're losing sleep over these questions, you've picked up the right book. We'll help you find the road to take to learn the fundamentals of business built on a digital foundation. If these questions are not of paramount importance to you, get used to mediocre business performance.

In these days of frequent and rapid change, skill in designing and changing complex "digital corporations" is a significant advantage. This advantage is highlighted throughout the book. To achieve an edge, management must be able to create complex service models built on technology--"e-service" designs. Simple designs offer no advantage and are easily copied. This book is about the discipline needed to create complex infrastructure choices, which are central to any modern firm. This book, based on several years of researching, consulting, managing, and growing e-business start-ups, tackles two nagging questions.

Why are some companies relentlessly successful at e-commerce while others flounder? What are the successful businesses doing differently to solve customer problems or pain? How are successful companies, both old and new, moving from traditional applications to the new breed of integrated, e-business application architectures?

Through detailed case studies and analysis, this book examines the e-business blueprint, offering step-by-step guidance in choosing and implementing the right application strategies to survive the e-commerce onslaught and to succeed. The thesis of the book is that durable application frameworks can guide you through the e-business chaos. Business models change. Technology changes. But application infrastructure design principles endure. What This Book Is About

Managers of established companies are struggling to comprehend this new phenomenon: e-commerce. But already, the next wave--e-business--is reaching shore. Intensified competition and new e-commerce opportunities are pressing traditional companies to build e-business models that are flexible, fast moving, and customer focused. In other words, the core of the enterprise itself is undergoing a metamorphosis from e-commerce to e-business.

e-Business is the complex fusion of business processes, enterprise applications, and organizational structure necessary to create a high-performance business model. The message is simple: Without a transition to an e-business foundation, e-commerce cannot be executed effectively. Considering the inevitability of moving toward an e-business foundation, senior management is being galvanized into tactical action. Those who fail will pay a high price.

One point deserves emphasis: Choosing to pursue e-business is not easy. e-Business is not a slogan. It is not a public relations campaign. It cannot be grafted onto or integrated into a company's normal business-as-usual operating philosophy. Going "e" is a central act that shapes every subsequent plan and decision a company makes, coloring the entire organization, from its competencies to its culture. e-Business, in effect, defines what a company does and, therefore, what it is.

If they seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, managers must understand the fundamental structure of the next-generation e-corporation built on an interconnected web of enterprise applications. We wrote this book to provide a master blueprint for building an innovative e-corporation that can survive and thrive in the digital world. What Makes This Book Different

Many books have been written about how the old economic rules of scale, scope, efficiency, market share, and vertical integration are no longer sufficient. New rules must be applied, and that requires new organizational capabilities. Managers everywhere understand the urgency; they're itching to get going and to make change happen.

Unfortunately, first-generation e-commerce strategy books were long on vision but short on detail. It's easy to talk about the e-commerce future, but the real management challenge is to make it happen in a systematic way without derailing existing business. What does this mean to top management? If customers are moving online, the whole information technology (IT) investment paradigm must shift toward creating an integrated e-business model.

The focus of this book is practical: helping senior management plan for and manage e-business investments. The first step is to design a comprehensive e-commerce strategy and then to evaluate prospective line-of-business application framework investments on the basis of how well the technology or application advances the strategy. Companies often make the mistake of focusing first on e-commerce applications and only then trying to bend a strategy around this outline. To succeed, managers must have a strong e-business strategy in place before considering specific e-commerce application investments. Otherwise, most e-commerce efforts are doomed to fail.

But what do these internal e-business architectures and investments look like? The answer is the focus of this book, the first to look at the problem of structural migration: how to transform an old company into a new agile e-corporation. This book provides a unique view of the next-generation, integrated enterprise and the line-of-business application investments necessary to compete. We highlight the critical elements--business processes, back-office and front-office applications, and strategy--that managers need to be successful in the digital economy.

In other words, corporations involved in e-commerce must rethink their visions of the future. Understanding how to lead one's company into the e-commerce arena requires a new point of view about integration and the business design. We offer step-by-step navigation of the uncharted e-business terrain. Executives and consultants everywhere need this guide to navigate the information economy. Who Should Read This Book

Many managers are so focused on the details of e-business that they fail to see the vast structural change in how the application infrastructure is being put together. Virtually every business discipline is affected by e-commerce and e-business application architectural efforts. Management needs to learn that the real challenge surrounding e-business is the task of making it happen. This book focuses on the business architecture that managers must build in order to achieve e-business success.

For firms in mature industries, such as automotive, insurance, and retail, that are trying to move in new directions, this book offers critical insights. For market leaders, such as Home Depot and FedEx, this book offers insights for sustaining their leadership. For entrepreneurs managing start-ups, this book highlights the key issues on which those businesses will succeed or fail. Its timeliness and insights into the changes in organizational practice make this book appealing to a broad management market:

Senior management and strategic planners charged with developing business strategies Consultants helping corporate executives shape their companies' competitive future Information technology managers leading their teams with strategic decisions

This book is a must-read for all managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, and business school students who have been discussing and reading about e-commerce and who are interested in knowing how they can capitalize on the next wave of business innovation. How This Book Is Organized

We start by dissecting the critical practices of companies that have pursued an e-business operating model to reach the top. We then extract examples of the sharpest thinking in business today. What emerges is a clear picture of the kinds of companies that will be tomorrow's stars and the strategies that will help them retain the market leader moniker.

The first five chapters describe a new e-business design composed of building blocks called enterprise applications. Market leaders are developing intricate e-models resting on a set of intertwined enterprise apps--customer relationship solutions, enterprise resource planning systems, order management solutions, or supply chain solutions--and then building their strategies around that set. Each enterprise app demands a distinct strateg

From the Back Cover

To survive and succeed in today's complex business world, all companies--from established industry leaders to feisty upstarts--must develop a strategy that allows them to take maximum advantage of the latest trends in technology. Successful companies have implemented focused e-business strategies to build cutting-edge enterprises that serve and retain customers, manage suppliers, and integrate selling chains better than ever before. Others, unfortunately, are lured into ill-fated ventures by the ever-changing roster of buzzwords, fads and analogies.

A timely follow-up to the best-seller on this crucial topic, e-Business 2.0 reveals how managers are rewiring the enterprise to take maximum advantage of e-business. Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson present an innovative application framework that guides the migration from a traditional business model to an e-business model. Drawing on their extensive personal experience working with leading businesses, they provide a clear picture of the benefits and challenges that e-business companies face and identify the fundamental design principles for building a successful e-business blueprint.

This new edition incorporates the latest strategies and techniques gained from the experiences of the first generation of e-businesses. In addition to updated information on application framework design, the book now features more detail on strategy and e-business execution. e-Business 2.0 shows how e-commerce has evolved into e-business and identifies the 20 key e-business trends that are shaping today's economy. It then addresses core application frameworks--customer relationship management, selling chain management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, e-procurement, and business intelligence--and shows how each forms the foundation of an e-business strategy.

Dr. Ravi Kalakota is a pioneer in the area of e-commerce. He is the CEO of e-Business Strategies, a technology research and consulting practice, and has consulted extensively with start-ups and Fortune 1000 companies.

Marcia Robinson is the cofounder and president of e-Business Strategies. She has extensive experience in the service delivery and customer side of e-business for the financial services industry.

e-Commerce is changing the shape of competition, the dynamics of the customer relationship, the speed of fulfillment, and the nature of leadership. In the face of change, is your management

• Willing to cannibalize its existing channels with a risky, untested new one?
• Creating a click-and-mortar service infrastructure that gives customers the same experience through all the channels?
• Digitizing the supply chain and linking up with competitors to reduce costs further?

Managers and companies everywhere are at a crossroad. With so many ways to go, which road will lead to success? What roadblocks will need to be navigated? Which business models, management strategies, and tactics will ensure success? What will the characteristics of the next generation of business applications be, and which vendors will lead in delivering them? To whom can managers turn for help? If you're losing sleep over these questions, you've picked up the right book. We'll help you find the road to take to learn the fundamentals of business built on a digital foundation. If these questions are not of paramount importance to you, get used to mediocre business performance.

In these days of frequent and rapid change, skill in designing and changing complex "digital corporations" is a significant advantage. This advantage is highlighted throughout the book. To achieve an edge, management must be able to create complex service models built on technology--"e-service" designs. Simple designs offer no advantage and are easily copied. This book is about the discipline needed to create complex infrastructure choices, which are central to any modern firm. This book, based on several years of researching, consulting, managing, and growing e-business start-ups, tackles two nagging questions.

• Why are some companies relentlessly successful at e-commerce while others flounder? What are the successful businesses doing differently to solve customer problems or pain?
• How are successful companies, both old and new, moving from traditional applications to the new breed of integrated, e-business application architectures?

Through detailed case studies and analysis, this book examines the e-business blueprint, offering step-by-step guidance in choosing and implementing the right application strategies to survive the e-commerce onslaught and to succeed. The thesis of the book is that durable application frameworks can guide you through the e-business chaos. Business models change. Technology changes. But application infrastructure design principles endure.

What This Book Is About

Managers of established companies are struggling to comprehend this new phenomenon: e-commerce. But already, the next wave--e-business--is reaching shore. Intensified competition and new e-commerce opportunities are pressing traditional companies to build e-business models that are flexible, fast moving, and customer focused. In other words, the core of the enterprise itself is undergoing a metamorphosis from e-commerce to e-business.

e-Business is the complex fusion of business processes, enterprise applications, and organizational structure necessary to create a high-performance business model. The message is simple: Without a transition to an e-business foundation, e-commerce cannot be executed effectively. Considering the inevitability of moving toward an e-business foundation, senior management is being galvanized into tactical action. Those who fail will pay a high price.

One point deserves emphasis: Choosing to pursue e-business is not easy. e-Business is not a slogan. It is not a public relations campaign. It cannot be grafted onto or integrated into a company's normal business-as-usual operating philosophy. Going "e" is a central act that shapes every subsequent plan and decision a company makes, coloring the entire organization, from its competencies to its culture. e-Business, in effect, defines what a company does and, therefore, what it is.

If they seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, managers must understand the fundamental structure of the next-generation e-corporation built on an interconnected web of enterprise applications. We wrote this book to provide a master blueprint for building an innovative e-corporation that can survive and thrive in the digital world.

What Makes This Book Different

Many books have been written about how the old economic rules of scale, scope, efficiency, market share, and vertical integration are no longer sufficient. New rules must be applied, and that requires new organizational capabilities. Managers everywhere understand the urgency; they're itching to get going and to make change happen.

Unfortunately, first-generation e-commerce strategy books were long on vision but short on detail. It's easy to talk about the e-commerce future, but the real management challenge is to make it happen in a systematic way without derailing existing business. What does this mean to top management? If customers are moving online, the whole information technology (IT) investment paradigm must shift toward creating an integrated e-business model.

The focus of this book is practical: helping senior management plan for and manage e-business investments. The first step is to design a comprehensive e-commerce strategy and then to evaluate prospective line-of-business application framework investments on the basis of how well the technology or application advances the strategy. Companies often make the mistake of focusing first on e-commerce applications and only then trying to bend a strategy around this outline. To succeed, managers must have a strong e-business strategy in place before considering specific e-commerce application investments. Otherwise, most e-commerce efforts are doomed to fail.

But what do these internal e-business architectures and investments look like? The answer is the focus of this book, the first to look at the problem of structural migration: how to transform an old company into a new agile e-corporation. This book provides a unique view of the next-generation, integrated enterprise and the line-of-business application investments necessary to compete. We highlight the critical elements--business processes, back-office and front-office applications, and strategy--that managers need to be successful in the digital economy.

In other words, corporations involved in e-commerce must rethink their visions of the future. Understanding how to lead one's company into the e-commerce arena requires a new point of view about integration and the business design. We offer step-by-step navigation of the uncharted e-business terrain. Executives and consultants everywhere need this guide to navigate the information economy.

Who Should Read This Book

Many managers are so focused on the details of e-business that they fail to see the vast structural change in how the application infrastructure is being put together. Virtually every business discipline is affected by e-commerce and e-business application architectural efforts. Management needs to learn that the real challenge surrounding e-business is the task of making it happen. This book focuses on the business architecture that managers must build in order to achieve e-business success.

For firms in mature industries, such as automotive, insurance, and retail, that are trying to move in new directions, this book offers critical insights. For market leaders, such as Home Depot and FedEx, this book offers insights for sustaining their leadership. For entrepreneurs managing start-ups, this book highlights the key issues on which those businesses will succeed or fail. Its timeliness and insights into the changes in organizational practice make this book appealing to a broad management market:

• Senior management and strategic planners charged with developing business strategies
• Consultants helping corporate executives shape their companies' competitive future
• Information technology managers leading their teams with strategic decisions

This book is a must-read for all managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, and business school students who have been discussing and reading about e-commerce and who are interested in knowing how they can capitalize on the next wave of business innovation.

How This Book Is Organized

We start by dissecting the critical practices of companies that have pursued an e-business operating model to reach the top. We then extract examples of the sharpest thinking in business today. What emerges is a clear picture of the kinds of companies that will be tomorrow's stars and the strategies that will help them retain the market leader moniker.

The first five chapters describe a new e-business design composed of building blocks called enterprise applications. Market leaders are developing intricate e-models resting on a set of intertwined enterprise apps--customer relationship solutions, enterprise resource planning systems, order management solutions, or supply chain solutions--and then building their strategies around that set. Each enterprise app demands a distinct strategic fusion of customer-centric processes, information systems, management systems, and culture.

Most managers are apprehensive about tackling strategic fusion issues because they represent such a formidable task, one that transcends the organizational structure and line-of-business considerations. This book offers a way to structure this widespread strategy problem, slice it into manageable pieces, and create actionable plans that can be executed quickly.

Chapters 6 through 11 explore the various e-business design elements in the new e-corporation. The goal is to identify clear, rational, strategic design choices that are responsive to evolving customer needs. Each chapter ends with a Memo to the CEO that provides a set of normative questions that must be answered convincingly if th...

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