Net Ready [Hardcover]

Amir Hartman (Author), John Kador (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 1999

It is hard to open a newspaper or listen to a news report without being innundated with information about Internet business. The opportunites are endless, but the realities are harsh. One of the most brutal is that few companies, regardless of size or reputation, have truly succeeded in e-commerce. A rare exception to this is CISCO Systems. This volume shows business managers how to exploit the potential of the Internet based upon CISCO System's strategic approach.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is your business ready for the Net? Amir Hartman and John Sifonis say it better be, and they aren't just talking about a snazzy corporate Web site when they ask that question in Net Ready. Instead, the two managing directors at Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group are referring to "seamless interactivity" organization-wide, the recognition that manipulating customers is no longer easy--nor, for that matter, desirable--and other realities and requirements in the still-evolving commercial climate they've dubbed the "E-conomy." Their book's opening section offers real-world trends and scenarios as a "framework to which emerging network-based businesses can map themselves," along with a "Net Readiness Scorecard" to measure preparedness in the core areas of leadership, governance, competencies, and technology. The second explores "using the Net to exploit new opportunities" by transforming products and markets, business processes, and entire industries. (They show, for example, how AOL reconceived itself from ISP to media company, how Ford connected with suppliers online, and how Schwab countered competitors by redefining the cyberbrokerage.) The third examines how everything comes together at Cisco Systems, and summarizes lessons learned--in 11 guiding principles. This is a serious book for those serious about doing business in the 21st century. --Howard Rothman

From the Back Cover

The Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller!

"Net Ready offers valuable advice...a must read for any company."

­­Roderick C. McGeary, Vice Chairman, KPMG consulting Services.

"Net Ready turns traditional business paradigms and the New Economy upside down. It's a wonderfully provocative and powerful primer on preparing your business to thrive robustly in the burgeoning E-conomy."

­­Lawrence A. Bossidy, Chairman and CEO, Allied Signal Inc.

Discover the proven strategies that will get your business ready for the new E-conomy with Net Ready. Look carefully, as the authors did, and you can see the E-conomy enterprise taking shape. The components that make up net ready organizations are well developed at a handful of companies, in their infancy at a few more, practically non-existent in most. Net-Readiness never comes easy or without a cost. To be sure, it comes easier to some organizations than to others. Even so, the demands of the E-conomy are such that most born-on-the-web companies fail. One of the rare exceptions to this is Cisco Systems. Consultants, executives, and managers alike continue to have a difficult time focusing on the proper opportunities and many companies continue to approach e-commerce initiatives very opportunistically and chaotically.

What has set Cisco apart from the pack? It operates under a unique set of rules for what the authors call the "E-conomy" and these guiding strategies have enabled Cisco to succeed in e-business. Net Ready identifies these new rules, shows readers how to combine them into unique strategies and provides a tool kit for exploiting each strategy. The companies with the most demonstrated ability to execute in the E-conomy have optimized the four most important properties of success in e-business. Leadership, governance, competencies, and technology­­together create the critical quality the author calls Net-Readiness.

Using examples garnered from Cisco Systems and other wildly successful E-conomy businesses, Net Ready presents expert perspectives on:

• Creating customized net readiness strategies;
• Identifying the E-conomy business model right for you;
• Implementing techniques for creating sustainable E-conomy value;
• Integrating net and business priorities;
• Aligning leadership and governance models for maximum impact;
• Using the net to redraw the boundaries of your industry
• And more

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (November 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071352422
• ISBN-13: 978-0071352420
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I want to be Net Ready--this book helps, December 6, 1999

By 

Anna Beth Payne (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Net Ready (Hardcover)

Like most businesspeople, my biggest challenge is to change my business so it can truly exploit the Internet. This book really opened my eyes. I had assumed that my biggest challenge was a technical one. But Net Ready persuaded me that the technological challenges, while important, are not the first ones for me to tackle. To be really Net Ready, the book demonstrates that businesses have to be ready in four dimensions: leadership, governance, competencies, and only then technology. The best chapters were the ones dealing with leadership and governance issues. Also highly useful were the three chapters in part II that define 12 specific e-business inititiatives that businesses can leverage. If you have an existing businesses and really want to take it to the next level, Net Ready is must reading.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Net Ready Evangelist!, December 8, 1999

By 

Kristy Gaschler (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Net Ready (Hardcover)

I found Net Ready to be extremely helpful in understanding the critical success factors in migrating to the Internet Economy. Working for a large Investment Bank, I am continually searching for better business processes to manage aggressive deadlines and sensitive client information. The book challenges the reader to look beyond technology as the answer to improve efficiencies and focus on identifying the organizational impediments to E-enabling your business, the authors have coined them their 4 pillars of Net Readiness: leadership, governance, competencies, and technology.

For a non-techie business manager, Net Ready is a great reference for how to migrate your business to the Internet Economy. The in-depth Cisco case study highlights the true business benefits that can be achieved across functional areas of a company. The author's have taken their extensive Internet consulting expertise and married that with real-life implementation experience at Cisco Systems to deliver the premier Internet business transformation reference guide!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE GUIDE for e-commerce, July 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Net Ready (Hardcover)

Every company in the world seems to have an e-commerce initiative. Most of those are not succesfull. The authors of Net Ready are responsible for establishing the single most successfull B2B site in the world - and it shows throughout the book. This book is THE book to read when it comes to e-commerce. Most interesting to me was the Principles of Prioritization on page 98. What an easy way to determine where the ROI in e-commerce applications is. Kudos to Misters Hartman and Sifonis. This is the single best e-commerce book I have ever read.