Business at the Speed of Thought

Product Description

In Business @ The Speed Of Thought, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates discusses how technology can help run business better in the near future. Success, he tells readers, will come to those who create a world-class digital nervous system so that information can easily flow through their companies for maximum and constant learning. He stresses the need for managers to view technology not as overhead but as a strategic asset, and offers detailed examples from Microsoft, GM, Dell, Merrill Lynch and many others to demonstrate his point. He shows technology can: Convert every paper process to a digital process, thereby freeing workers for more important tasks, Speed Communications around the world with fully integrated computer systems, Stimulate employees to develop and implement business strategies, Speed your companys reflexes through e-mail, Handle routine business analysis, focusing your employees on using information, and much more. Gates also includes a candid assessment of some of Microsofts miscalculations and how technology helped to turn failure into triumph. He covers how specific sectors of the economy are using technology to revolutionize themselves, and even gives readers a peek at some up-and-coming technologies. Also available as a Time Warner AudioBook featuring original material by Bill Gates interspersed throughout. One day laydown: March 25 1999.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #457037 in Books
* Published on: 1999-03
* Released on: 1999-03-24
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 496 pages

Editorial Reviews

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

From Booklist
There's a companion Web site , and the back cover carries the message that Gates is donating his share of proceeds to charity. See also Clark's Netscape Time, p.1450. Bonnie Smothers

About the Author
BILL GATES is the chairman and chief executive officer at Microsoft Corporation. His vision and commitment regarding personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and in the advancement of software technology. He lives with his wife, Melinda, and daughter, Jennifer, in the Seattle area.

COLLINS HEMINGWAY is director of executive communications at Microsoft Corporation. He had been involved with Microsoft's systems products since 1987 and from 1994 to 1996 was director of international and partner marketing for the Personal and Business Systems Division.
Customer Reviews

PHB Fodder1
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 Book4
"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 velocity5
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.