Business at the Speed of Thought
Business at the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates
In 1999, with the release of his book “Business at the Speed of Thought” Bill Gates attempted to enlighten the world to the fact that in order to succeed and become leaders in the future, businesses throughout the world would have to implement digital technology. The book itself is written entirely from Mr. Gates’ point of view. He wrote it in response to a number of requests from multi level business managers, organizational and corporate leaders, and IT professionals that wanted to know more about digital technology, and what he called a “digital nervous system”, which he claimed would help information flow. He describes how a “digital nervous system can transform businesses of all kinds and make public entities such as hospitals, government at all levels, and schools more responsive by infusing more energy into them. In the book he focuses on three major elements of a business: 1. Customer/partner relationships 2. Employees and, 3. Process. As well as three corporate functions: 1. Commerce 2. Knowledge Management and, 3. Operations. He developed 12 steps that he felt would be key elements to building and making digital information technology flow, which he refers to throughout the book as part of a guideline to developing a “Digital Nervous System.” They are as follows: For knowledge work:
1. Insist that communication flow through the organization over email so that you can act on news with reflex like speed
2. Study Sales data online to find patterns and share insight easily. Understand overall trends and personalize service for individual customers.
3. Use PCs for business analysis, and shift knowledge workers into high level thinking work about products, services and profitability.
4. Use digital tools to create cross-departmental virtual teams that can share knowledge and build on each other’s ideas in real time world-wide. Use digital systems to capture corporate
In 1999, with the release of his book “Business at the Speed of Thought” Bill Gates attempted to enlighten the world to the fact that in order to succeed and become leaders in the future, businesses throughout the world would have to implement digital technology. The book itself is written entirely from Mr. Gates’ point of view. He wrote it in response to a number of requests from multi level business managers, organizational and corporate leaders, and IT professionals that wanted to know more about digital technology, and what he called a “digital nervous system”, which he claimed would help information flow. He describes how a “digital nervous system can transform businesses of all kinds and make public entities such as hospitals, government at all levels, and schools more responsive by infusing more energy into them. In the book he focuses on three major elements of a business: 1. Customer/partner relationships 2. Employees and, 3. Process. As well as three corporate functions: 1. Commerce 2. Knowledge Management and, 3. Operations. He developed 12 steps that he felt would be key elements to building and making digital information technology flow, which he refers to throughout the book as part of a guideline to developing a “Digital Nervous System.” They are as follows: For knowledge work:
1. Insist that communication flow through the organization over email so that you can act on news with reflex like speed
2. Study Sales data online to find patterns and share insight easily. Understand overall trends and personalize service for individual customers.
3. Use PCs for business analysis, and shift knowledge workers into high level thinking work about products, services and profitability.
4. Use digital tools to create cross-departmental virtual teams that can share knowledge and build on each other’s ideas in real time world-wide. Use digital systems to capture corporate