[PDF] Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy

In his new book, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates discusses how technology can help run businesses better today and how it will transform the nature of business in the near future. Gates stresses the need for managers to view technology not as overhead but as a strategic asset, and offers detailed examples from Microsoft, GM, Dell, and many other successful companies. Companion Web site.

As the cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Microsoft, the world’s leading provider of software for personal computers, Bill Gates played a prominent role in launching the Information Age. Now this modern visionary reveals how expanding technology is propelling the business world into an exciting new economic era….how every manager can – and must – stay ahead of the curve…and how integrated information systems can help every organization achieve….Business at the Speed of Thought.

Changes are your company has a sizable investment in technology – and is realizing only 20 percent of its potential benefit. As Gates explains, you’re probably viewing hardware and software as a way to solve specific problems. But like a living organism, an organization functions best if it can rely on a nervous system that will instantaneously deliver information to the parts that need it. In clear, nontechnical language, Business at the Speed of Thought shows you how a digital nervous system can unite all the systems and processes under one common infrastructure, releasing rivers of information and allowing your company to make a quantum leaps in efficiency, growth and profits. With eye-opening, detailed tours, into Microsoft and other major corporations, Gates unveils the way digital nervous systems – from the simplest to the most sophisticated – are revolutionizing the very nature of business. You’ll learn how integrated technology can:* instantly access scattered information to analyze patterns and trends * decrease cycle time and get new products out before the competition * deliver up-to-the-minute sales and inventory statistics on every one of your products, anywhere in the world * help customers solve their own problems and, using intelligent software, automatically * feed complaints to designers and line workers…..and much more.

Modern visionsary, Bill Gates, reveals how expanding technology is propelling the business world into an exciting new economic era … how every manager can and must stay ahead of the curve, and how integrated information systems can help every organization.

pt. 1. Information flow is your lifeblood —

ch. 1. Manage with the force of facts —

ch. 2. Can your digital nervous system do this? —

ch. 3. Create a paperless office —

pt. 2. Commerce: the Internet changes everything —

ch. 4. Ride the inflection rocket —

ch. 5. The Middleman must add value —

ch. 6. Touch your customers —

ch. 7. Adopt the web lifestyle —

ch. 8. Change the boundaries of business —

ch. 9. Get to market first —

pt. 3. Manage knowledge to improve strategic thought —

ch. 10. Bad news must travel fast —

ch. 11. Convert bad news to good —

ch. 12. Know your numbers —

ch. 13. Shift people into thinking work —

ch. 14. Raise your corporate IQ —

ch. 15. Big wins require big risks —

pt. 4. Bring insight to business operations —

ch. 16. Develop processes that empower people —

ch. 17. Information technology enables reengineering —

ch. 18. Treat it as a strategic resource —

pt. 5. Special enterprises —

ch. 19. No health care system is an island —

ch. 20. Take government to the people —

ch. 21. When reflex is a matter of life and death —

ch. 22. Create connected learning communities —

pt. 6. Expect the unexpected —

ch. 23. Prepare for the digital future.