Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy

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

Product Description
His vision changed our world. But in this monumental work Bill Gates argues that the capabilities of computers, software, and networks are only beginning to be harnessedand that your company must start building a modern, digital nervous system now in order to compete quickly and intuitively in the new millennium. Here, one of the worlds most successful, strategically-thinking CEOs explains how to turn your hardware and software into a powerful, evolving network of information by looking at the digital systems in place at Microsoft and other leading corporations.