- Hardcover: 496 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; 1st edition (25 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670886645
- ISBN-13: 978-0140283112
- ASIN: 0140283110
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 646,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Business at the Speed of Thought
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk 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 programme 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: "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 international 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, he, Microsoft, and perhaps even this book you may ignore at your own peril. --Harry C. Edwards, Amazon.com
Product Description
A business book using case studies from around the world to demonstrate the transformative power of technology in business. gates provides the reader with his view on technology's role in corporate evolution - not just at rival software companies and corporate giants but at small businesses as well.
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First Sentence
I have a simple but strong belief. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I have a simple but strong belief. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book very useful in explaining the way that IT can be applied by businesses, large and small.
Although much of the information contained in the book is well recognised within the IT industry, the message still hasn't hit home for many business owners and managers.
Working in systems development, I still find that senior managers barely have a grasp of IT at all, let alone how it is going to shape their industry.
The message from this book is very timely, and is directed at the right audience. The limiting factor in business today is not IT, but people's ability to exploit it. I think that this has been true for a long time now !
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio Cassette
THE BOOK IS VERY GOOD WITH INTERESTING TOPICS ETC. but the narrator is so boring! The man who reads this has no enthusiasm to his voice and just goes on in the same pitch throughout the whole cassette and you just find yourself drifting off and not listening. I thought it might just be me so got a second and third opinion and everyone agrees the guy audio version should be read by someone much more dynamic than this guy. Bill Gates obviously hasn't listened to tape!! Anyway the book itself is very good and well worth reading in its paper format! It is very interesting and covers all issues of the digital nervous system and how this will affect everyday life in the future. Quite exiting concepts for us all!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For the budding entrepreneur or business man this is a must. All CEOs,directors should have it as a bible.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
OK, let's be honest . . .
Having read his previous book 'The Way Ahead' which was backed up by an excellent CD, I found 'Business @ the Speed of Thought' to be a little on the 'mild' side. Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by Jonathan Kettleborough
Sharing Is Good, But What Should Be Shared?
One of the primary benefits of a human nervous system is to allow the senses and the mind to be in close contact. Read more
Published on 28 May 2004 by Donald Mitchell
Good book on how to do business in the 21st Century
I really enjoyed this book. I work in the public sector and thought that some of it might be irrelevant to me - but it was all very interesting. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2001 by Bobby Elliott
Excellent overview to ensure business embraces technology
This book provides an excellent overview of how a business needs to adapt its internal business systems to survive, adapt and embrace the latest technology. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2000
Can the World's Foremost Copier Be a Visionary?
Microsoft is renowned for watching trends, finding the best provider of new ideas and services, and buying/copying that innovation. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 1999
My name is Bill...
...resistance is futile.
Synopsis: Microsoft are great. Technology is great. Microsoft techology is great. Buy Microsoft technology. I am Bill, I am great. Read more
Published on 10 Jun 1999
great for the beginner - fewer ideas for the initiated
Overall I found the book interesting but more as a reminder of things I had read elsewhere. Many of the ideas, e.g. Read more
Published on 26 April 1999
A view of the future
This is an excellent book that I would recommend to ANY business owner. Gates manages to buil on "The road ahead" by keeping the book to a minumum of jargon. Read more
Published on 23 April 1999
Blatant commercial
This is quite simply a customer paid-for commercial for Microsoft technology. In many cases trying to frighten organisations into adopting new technology - not for planned... Read more
Published on 15 April 1999
SOFTWARE STALLS
BUSINESS @ THE SPEED OF THOUGHT clearly shows the risk of creating even more harm from GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. Read more
Published on 9 April 1999
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