Building the Real-Time Enterprise: An Executive Briefing (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "We are in the stage of our economy where the fusing together of information technology and business operations is creating what has come to be..." (more)
Key Phrases: powerful reinforcing feedback loop, feedback loop exhibit, conceptual system design, New York, Peter Senge, Stafford Beer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book is organized and laid out to provide information in quickly understandable chapters and in sections within chapters. Each chapter stands on its own and provides a usable body of information on an aspect of the real-time enterprise. Chapters includes diagrams, tables, and lists to illustrate and summarize key points and real-world case studies and executive interviews to provide further insight into the subject matter presented in the chapter.

Readers of this book will:

• Gain a clear picture of how organizations can profit from use of real-time operations
• Appreciate the theory, technology, and business practices that underpin the real-time enterprise
• Learn a pragmatic and efficient approach for developing real-time systems in their own organizations

The author, Michael Hugos, is the chief information officer of Network Services Company, a $7 billion dollar distribution organization. He has over 20 years experience in applying technology to meet business challenges and he holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. His discussion of the real-time enterprise is a blend of both theoretical and practical perspectives based on his years of applying real-time concepts to actual business situations. He is also the author of Essentials of Supply Chain Management.

From the Back Cover

BUILDING THE REAL-TIME ENTERPRISE.

"Finally, the vision of the real-time enterprise defined in terms management and business people can understand. Hugos has cleared a path for companies wanting to deliver more value faster to the customer base and gain real competitive advantage. How? By working in a real-time enterprise, you can see all of the pieces of business in motion simultaneously, understand their relation to each other, and simply make better business decisions. It is the promise of IT delivered...tools that turn information into knowledge...knowledge into action...and action into results." - Dale F. Reeves, Director of Global eBusiness, JohnsonDiversey Inc.

"This book is a must-read for COOs, CFOs, and CIOs. Mr. Hugos lays out a road map that includes best practice tools and techniques to define, understand, devise, and implement real-time initiatives. The elegantly simple approach to systems development allows for economies in development and shows how best to maneuver through change. Of special interest were the Executive Insight sections at the end of each chapter, and the real-world cases proved invaluable." - Robert G. Grazulis, Vice president of Project Management Office, Options Clearing Corporation

The real-time enterprise is not another IT fad...it is here to stay. Companies that leverage the power of real-time information will far surpass their competition. Building the Real-Time Enterprise provides a concise overview of how a real-time enterprise works, what competitive advantage it offers, and pragmatic strategies to implement it in your organization.

Learn how to maximize internal operating efficiencies, spot new opportunities, and respond to them instantly with the help of Building the Real-Time Enterprise.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471678295
• ISBN-13: 978-0471678298
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #385,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A safe journey to the Real-time Enterprise, March 31, 2005

By	Fc Lochner "Castor" (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Building the Real-Time Enterprise: An Executive Briefing by Michael Hugos is a timely compendium of lessons about tested and proofed management and operational techniques for all CIO's wanting to create successful internal IT organizations in the global village we live and work in. How is an IT organization to spend its scarce resources to enable its business to excel in a world characterized by hyper-competition and co-opetition? Hugos defines the Real-time Enterprise and systematically explains its business foundations, supported by practical examples. Short overview sections on Information Theory, Cybernetics, General Systems Theory, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Business Process Management, System Dynamics and Viable Systems Model, to name a few, provide contextual settings in which the roots for the modern Real-time Enterprise are to be found. The book continues by explaining how to design a real-time enterprise. It does so by motivating the need for change and dynamic management, right through descriptions of real-time observation and action chains [the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop, borrowed from aerial warfare]and to guidance on where to start the journey toward the Real-time Enterprise once resolved as strategy. Directions of how to build an IT infrastructure for Real-time Enterprises, and tested project management methodologies are combined to serve as a Best Practice manual towards sure results. Decision-making, modern programming languages, social skills and people management, and the various steps of the system development life cycle, are all described in the context of creating the Real-time Enterprise. Of particular value is sections on hard lessons learned in successes and failures as the author experienced them in his career, and how these are of value in systematically moving towards the Real-time Enterprise. These lessons are classified in strategic guidelines for system design and tactical principles for running projects. Every chapter in the book is supported by a vignette describing a particular executive insight related to the chapter content, and this is where the book's ultimate value lies; it is based on the professional experience of an author, also award-winning CIO, having changed the organization he works for to a Real-time Enterprise with sustainable growth and success in the world of today. Having read Building the Real-time Enterprise left me with fresh and profound insights on how to optimize executive effort and organizational resources for the creation of a dynamic and agile IT capacity in the modern organization. Free of clichés, this book has set a benchmark to be followed as an example of how to combine theoretical principles with practical lessons and verified successes in the IT world. It won't easily be replaced as company on my professional journey!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Building a Real-Time Enterprise: An Executive Briefing, March 14, 2005

By	Michael J. Chakos (chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Useful book for the busy executive: I am the CFO of my organization and manage many operating units. I have read Mr. Hugos' book and found it refreshing, to the point and extremely useful. In particular the last chapter has armed me with all of the important questions that provide the framework for keeping all projects on task and within budget. These questions provide a common communication framework between technical people and business unit managers that result in projects that stay focused and on track.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Today's Management Trends, October 12, 2005

By	George Vrabel (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It was straightforward, relevant, and used examples from outside the business world (I especially liked the one about air to air combat) to parallel non-associated actions and show that the thought processes were similar. I think it was also balanced by explaining some of the pitfalls that may happen from too much of a good thing, like the call center monitoring tools. Great examples from the real world. I got a lot out of it.