Customer Reviews

E-Commerce Strategies (IT Professional)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this book to be great, even though we don't have much in the way of MS software. The real value of the book lies in two key areas:

1. Best practice research from I/T industry analysts, and almost every major analyst group is included. This feature alone provides lots of great tips. Plus, getting the best practice research would cost thousands of dollars to purchase from analysts.

2. The checklists, such as the "Taking Stock" and "Action Plan" sections at the end of each chapter. These lists are very useful in planning E-Commerce initiatives and strategies, because they give you a list of things to do, and help you avoid forgetting anything.

While the book does not detail a methodology for E-Commerce development (e.g., programming), it is extremely valuable for strategic planning. It's also valuable for checking your current initiatives to see if you're following the best practices outlined in the book. About me: I'm a 42-year-old Director of E-Commerce with a large east coast food manufacturer.

Trepper does a decent job on hitting all of the bases. His book is practical with plenty of references and resources. My frustrations: I was looking more for a roadmap to E-Commerce planning and implementation. This book does not provide a project-type of guideline. I wish the appendix would have included such a guide (NO CD-ROM).The book could have been better illustrated to reinforce the verbage. For the Microsoft-phobics, he really promotes the new Microsoft suite of products( ref Ch 9). In fairness, Microsoft has a plausible E-com solution. If you want to get there get here, pick this one up to get acquainted with equipped to compete in the New Economy.

I have found this to be a good book for beginners on the subject. It provides a very good basis for understanding the concepts. Readers should however remember that it has a clead bias towards Microsoft.

It is a good book but biased.

This is a good complement to the Gates argument that off the shelf software is the cheapest and best way to go for small businesses, here applied to e-commerce, not surprisingly MS-centric. Interestingly, Trepper is an outsider, not an in-house MS clone. This is evidence that Microsoft Press is a gathering force, and certainly not an in-house ghetto of yes-men writing low quality books.

Compare this to Sun's last-known dramatic book on how SUN will rule the computing world, AKA "Rightsizing the Enterprise." That book is very hard to read, and also demands that the user adopt SUN's stuff, at the hardware and software level.

Microsoft seems to be on target here. Very little of this is "my way or the highway."

The book proved to be pretty useful to me and was enjoyable to read. But chapter on Measuring Success seemed pretty good, I suspect that many PM's do not focus enough on this. The book as a "Wrap up" "Taking Stock" and "Action Plan" which summarize each chapter. The Wrap Up is a summary. The taking stock are questions you should ask yourself about your company. The Action plan are steps towards implementing your plan.

On page 263, I found something interesting, "Large consulting firms typically have a good base of skills in most of the hot technology ares. The problem is that some of these firms put their less experienced consultants on projects to learn the technology at the expense of the client."

Chapters 9-11 seemed to be biased towards Microsoft. But I view that as reasonable because many authors of e-commerce books are trying to sell something through their books; either products or consulting services.

The chapters were as follows: CH 1 Go Online or Go Out of Business CH 2 E-Commerce in Action: Reality and Myth CH 3 The E-Commerce Obstacle Course CH 4 Measuring Success CH 5 E-Commerce Building Blocks CH 6 E-Commerce Site Essentials CH 7 E-Commerce Best Practices CH 8 Brand Management Strategies CH 9 Microsoft's E-Commerce Strategy CH 10 Microsoft's E-Commerce Platform CH 11 Web Portals CH 12 Partnering

I'm a non-techie with much curiousity but little background in e-commerce. I thought it was very helpful in setting up my website and strategies.

Typical Microsoft Press....Not a book to buy if you want to learn about e-commerce strategies (!) If you are using MS e-commerce software, however....