Customer Reviews

Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-Conomy

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

This is the first book which gets beyond the usual hyperbole of the Internet economy and ebusiness, and articulates the challenges that exist in succeeding. Moreover, I found it a fun read.

Net Ready not only frames the core issues behind successful ebusiness strategies, but also provides a roadmap and toolkit, if you will, that can help executives build an ebusiness strategy.

This is one of the few books which introduces and addresses the critical ebusiness issues facing management today: How should we organize around these initiatives; How do we prioritize execution; How do we fund our efforts? With so many new economy books on the market, Net Ready is a standout which belongs on every executive's desk.

Not only is Net Ready a must read for those looking to become "Net Ready", it also provides value to those who feel that they already are. Even as a veteran of two successful Internet start-up companies, I learned a great deal from this book. Hartman and Safonis have successfully transferred their years of experience and expertise into a clear and concise Net strategy book. This is an excellent primer for executives trying to build a roadmap for the Internet economy.

Amir Hartman and John Sifonis have figured the whole e-conomy out. Whether yours is a born-on-the web or old world/click and morter enterprise, they understand the appropriate strategy and opportunities. If only the executives in the company I work for (Fortune 50) would read it and execute on the valuable strategies in this book. Even if you don't have LOB responsibility there's insight that can be implemented. For a marketer such as myself, there are real tools that I can employ to improve demand creation, customer loyalty and satisfaction in my product line and geography. I very highly recommend this book. A deep and meaty, yet quick and conversational read.

The book let the reader understand what the new E-conomy looks like and supplies ideas and carefully explained examples of companies that have implemented it. The goal of the book is (page XV): "to explain what the Net Ready organization of the 21st century will look like, how it will operate, and how it will relate to other Net Ready organizations. The book will introduce the concept of Net Readiness and define its attributes". I think that the goal of the book has been met. The book does not supply ready-to-run solutions for enterpreneurs or managers that seek success in the E-conomy: however, the authors provide ideas, directions, hints and examples; they provide a very good conceptual framework (or "vision") and the intellectual tools that the reader can use to build its own E-conomy initiative. Such a framework is explained through examples, that show that the ideas exposed by the authors are not only pure theory, but may be present reality. I have also appreciated the "questionaires" at the end: in my opinion they are a good tool for self-examination. In conclusion, the book has taught me a lot.

This book is an absolute must if you are going to survive, much less prosper in ecommerce. You'll discover how the businesses geniuses of the net formulate and execute strategy and, most importantly, how they prepare for unending change. Even though there is no mouse to click, this book is nevertheless an interactive experience. Get your notebook out and prepare to formulate strategy for your business as you proceed through the book. And take your time as their is much to think about. P.S. Five stars are not nearly enough.

I found 'Net Ready' to be an exceptional read and am now keeping it on my desk in clear view as inspiration. The authors go well beyond sweeping generalizations made in other books. In this invaluable resource, specific criteria for success in the E-conomy are identified (the four pillars of Net Readiness) and tools are provided to help in getting started down the right path to being 'Net Ready' (mapping web initiatives to the e-business value matrix, use of the project prioritization matrix, and the Net Readiness Scorecard among others). This book is a literal road map for creating value in the E-conomy. If you are overwhelmed by the fast pace of change going on around you and are struggling with where to turn for help, I highly recommend you turn to 'Net Ready.'

After taking Amir's E-Business Strategy course, I never thought that all these key lessons could be put in a single book in a clear and easy to read style. I was proved wrong. Amir's style is engaging, interactive, and fun (in class as well as in paper). The frameworks and first-hand experiences that are used in this book can easily be applied to most businesses with little effort. And there isn't a better way to impress recruiters than using these new frameworks to analyze traditional and e-business cases. For born-on-the-web professionals, this book provides a solid foundation in which to build and test new initiatives. For those who are still transitioning, this is a great hold-my-hand kind of coaching.