Customer Reviews

Net Attitude: What It Is, How To Get It, And Why Your Company Can't Survive Without It

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

 

 

Big thumbs up!!! Great read from one of the most respected leaders in the technology/IT business. John's tone and approach make the book understandable to those without technology backgrounds and very enjoyable to read at the same time. So very many of the things John highlights in this book as experiences for him still ring true for all of us. If you own or participate in leading a business, you really owe it to yourself to add this perspective. It could be an eye-opening experience.

John Patrick's book makes significant points about the rising expectations of consumers and the sometimes slow response of business to meet those Internet expectations. He provides a good review of current and upcoming Internet technology. Although much of this review may not be original, he exploits this review to push ahead companies' internal expectations. He harps on, and rightly so, on websites which lack integration of data and still offer "print and fax this form" customer service. If there is a weakness in his argument, it is a more complete discussion of the backend databases and infrastructures required to make the "fast, always on, everywhere, easy, Next Generation Internet" possible.

Patrick could have spent more time on technologies such as web services which industry has been slow to adopt. However, the technical details are more appropriate for other volumes. The strength of this book is its clear explanations of how Internet technologies are now available to meet the business strategies of pervasive, trusted, natural Internet. The book adequately addresses trust and secure technologies, yet the implementation of these technologies takes time. Once businesses and consumers are ready to accept and trust the technology and the people behind the technology, much of the Net Attitude can move forward.

One final limitation of the book: many of the examples are from the airline and financial services sector. More could have been said about healthcare, non-profit and government services, which need this attitude as much.

Overall, the book provides a current view which companies and consumers need to get. Whether the term "Next Generation Internet" will catch on remains to be seen but certainly the concepts need adoption now.

This is perhaps the best book I have read in a long time. Many tech-heads like myself will read it and say, "That is already happening. Why would anybody say this book is good?" Well, I have two things to say to answer that question. First is gimme a break. The book was published in 2001 and, obviously, there have been advancements in technology and some of the things Patrick mentions are already in place or are being put in place. That said, people should still read the book because a lot of what he writes about concerning the NGi (Next Generation Internet) is still not fulfilled yet.

Secondly, and more importantly, is that people should read the book for what it is really about: Net Attitude. One of the most important parts of net attitude Patrick presents is the concept of "outside-in thinking." Those of us in technology--whether we are code crunchers or CTO's--should be thinking about our customers and clients and what sorts of things they would want to be able to do over the Internet from our web sites. Read the book for more details. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

I loved this book! The Net's everything! I do my papers, shopping, absolutely everything on it! I also adored Micheal Levin's Guerila PR: Wired. More Net!

Net Attitude is a very well written and essential publication discussing the Internet yesterday, today and tomorrow. This book is written by one of the preeminent figures shaping the Internet today, John Patrick. Reading it seemed like déjà vu to me as I realized that I have heard and seen the ideas in this book first hand many times from my experience working with Mr. Patrick in IBM. Mr. Patrick very successfully reshaped IBM's Internet business by changing its culture and this book explains the necessity to change the attitude/culture of employees in an organization to effectively create and maintain a successful Internet equipped business. Mr. Patrick has a large influence in the NGi (next generation Internet) project as he promises the "connected" future to be Fast, Always on, Everywhere, Natural, Intelligent, Easy and Trusted. These qualities will truly reshape business processes and societal tendencies in the very near future. This is a must read for anyone involved in modern business.

Net Attitude is a very well written and essential publication discussing the Internet yesterday, today and tomorrow. This book is written by one of the preeminent figures shaping the Internet today, John R. Patrick. Reading it seemed like déjà vu to me as I realized that I have heard and seen the ideas in this book first hand many times from my experience working with Mr. Patrick in IBM. Mr. Patrick very successfully reshaped IBM's Internet business by changing its culture and this book explains the necessity to change the attitude/culture of employees in an organization to effectively create and maintain a successful Internet equipped business. Mr. Patrick has a large influence in the NGi (next generation Internet) project as he promises the "connected" future to be Fast, Always on, Everywhere, Natural, Intelligent, Easy and Trusted. These qualities will truly reshape business processes and societal tendencies in the very near future. This is a must read for anyone involved in modern business.

My CIO was interested in this book after he received a presentation from John Patrick at a conference. From all indications, John's presentation was electric so I had high hopes for the book. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed. I found the content nothing new and there was little provided to answer the "so what" question. There are numerous analogies about the problems that John, and many of us, face in doing business today. Fax machines not working, email connection problems, hardware problems, etc, pages and pages of them. While what he said is true, after about 20 or 30 pages of this I thought, "alright, you've made your point". I was expecting much more insight into the problems that the internet faces and the less obvious places that John sees it going. I got neither, I got what everyone already knows. The best part of the book was pages 215 to 225, the last chapter on what to do next. Again, nothing earth shattering, just sensible stuff. The key for companies will be to follow the strategy religously.

The book would be good for a person who is new to the internet and is looking for ways of integrating it into their business. I suspect there aren't many people left in this boat but there might be a few.

I urge you to get a copy of John's book, it is very instructive.
Those of you who think your firm has a terrific eCommerce strategy should pick up John's book. He has plenty of attitude, and that is especially surprising, given that John has spent many years toiling at IBM -- yes, IBM. The book is filled with plenty of good advice and how to learn from the best and worst examples of eCommerce.