The eProcess Edge: Creating Customer Value & Business in the Internet Era [Hardcover]

Peter Keen (Author), Mark McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Series: IT-Leaders | Publication Date: June 16, 2000

This work focuses on teaching IT leaders how to implement hyper-efficient business processes in the e-commerce market, and the second book in the ComputerWorld Books for the IT Leaders series. Companies are jumping onto the e-commerce bandwagon, but are struggling to remain profitable. Competitors are attacking, customers are gaining power and pricing power is tumbling. If you want to sell products and services over the Internet, you must slash costs and automate as many basic business functions as possible to remain profitable. No company over the next five years can afford to ignore cost of sales and the need to implement business processes to radically reduce costs. This resource should provide them with that help.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Extensive hype and overvaluation of companies engaged in eBusiness have raised much concern in top management and financial circles. This book is one of the strongest to help nontechnical managers get beyond the hype to understand the permanent value that will come from applying the Internet to core processes in every kind of business,old and new - Mario Marino,Chairman of the Morino Institute and former Chairman,Legent Corporation.

From the Publisher

eCommerce has changed business as we know it. No hype, its reality. New companies, new competition, new customers--all challenge existing business rules. The emerging new economy, however, has fundamentals about customers, relationships, service, and brand. Customers matter in eCommerce and gaining their trust and repeat business building relationships are critical for success. How does a company create an eCommerce business based on relationships? What must it do to achieve the right balance between vertical operation and virtual integration? What should be on the executive agenda for eCommerce? The answers can be found inside The eProcess Edge, from thought leaders Peter Keen and Mark McDonald.

Keen and McDonald have identified the approaches and steps necessary to create wealth through raising efficiency and combating commoditization found on the Web. Its not about just knowing what to do; its about knowing how to implement processes, and turning innovation into execution. This book is a practical roadmap that shows managers and technology decision-makers exactly how to improve their processes and capabilities, gain the competitive advantage through relationships, and help their companies build wealth. Revealing the advantages of eProcess, the authors show how to combine new technology with business processes to generate faster revenue growth and greater profits through relationships and repeat business.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill; 1st edition (June 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072126264
• ISBN-13: 978-0072126266
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,649,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The eProcess Edge is a Winner!, July 27, 2000

By 

A. Gong "family man" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The eProcess Edge: Creating Customer Value & Business in the Internet Era (Hardcover)

eCommerce has both blinded and charmed many business people into focusing on the wrong issues and actions for their companies, customers, and investors. Fewer than 20 eBusinesses have achieved consistent eCommerce profitability, and created real customer value.

There are very few worthy how-to books about eCommerce. Customers.com is one such book. However, many other books adopt a "white ivory tower" mentality that fails to explain the nuts and bolts of the eCommerce explosion, and fewer even give clear guidelines on becoming successful in eCommerce

What book should you read to understand the what's and how's of eCommerce?

The eProcess Edge is a must-read for managers (technical and non-technical), C-level officers, consultants, academics, and industry analysts. It is useful to both professionals, and anyone who wants to be a well-informed online customer and potential investor of eBusinesses.

The eProcess framework offers logical and compelling analyses of eCommerce success and failures for the past 5 years, and is based on the lessons learned from a large sample size (80+) of companies across different industries to support its reasonings.

Keen and McDonald provide strong inferential arguments for the importance in eCommerce of: - commerce fundamentals - relationships building - business process excellence - collaborative value networks - electronic interfaces - capabilities sourcing - customer experience.

Technology does not provide all the answers. The integration of people, process and technology is necessary to achieve the eProcess edge for high customer value, and high company profitability.

This is a very practical book. It offfers many lessons-learned, and recommends specific actions. It addresses the challenges and issues for both pure-online only, and traditional "bricks and mortar" companies. It leverages the expertise and insights of two veteran eCommerce experts - backed by the research, analyses, real-world experiences, and talents of their respective companies (Keen Innovations, Andersen Consulting).

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The e-BusinesSilver Bullet is in the Process and the Journey, July 22, 2000

By 

Amrit Tiwana "www.bus.iastate.edu/tiwana" (Decatur, Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The eProcess Edge: Creating Customer Value & Business in the Internet Era (Hardcover)

This book has three key lessons: (1) business models visibly matter a heck of a lot more now than they perhaps did before, (2) excellence in leading e-businesses comes from thier processes and intangible assets of that nature, not flashy Web sites or overweight bank accounts (capital assets), (3) relationship capital makes or breaks an e-Business. The key lesson that I took away from this book was that the Silver Bullet for e-Business success lies in the journey--the process--and those who recognize that can build thier own inimitable silver bullets.

This book is not for those looking for a "formula" or Silver Bullet for e-commerce success. It is for those who realize that the quest for Silver Bullet-like formulas is for those who seek to imitate, not innovate. If anything, once-successful B2C businesses that have been closing down since this past Christmas season should teach us a lesson that little is gained from imitation. Process excellence is what differentiates in the end, and that needs deep understanding of your own business models, and knowledge of your markets. Although the authors do not directly refer to it, the role of knowledge management surfaces implicitly throughout thier discussion ("first learner advantage"). While the authors dicuss e-commerce, much of what this book has to offer is also applicable to e-Business.

This is the kind of business book that comes once every few years, and the one that's best bought in hardcover because of the extent to which I'll probably refer to it. This book is not meant to provide you the right answers, but it will help you ask the right questions. The beauty of this volume is that it describes fundamental, timeless concepts that will remain the same even when the next wave of technology emerges. In my opinion, a few comparative tables and the discussion of Schwab and FedEx alone are worth the cost of this book.

Very highly recommended.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The eProcess Edge: A Must Read!, August 15, 2000

By 

Shaista Keating (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The eProcess Edge: Creating Customer Value & Business in the Internet Era (Hardcover)

Execution matters! The eProcess Edge enables businesses - both start ups and established companies - to move from Internet innovation to eProcess execution.

It is designed to help professionals prioritize, coordinate, and implement electronic commerce processes. Targeting key relationships is addressed and building a value network as a basis for organizing and competing is covered in detail. If you aim to manage an eCommerce business successfully, the tools provided in this book will be helpful. For example, Keen and McDonald offer an 'eProcess capability matrix' that guides appropriate operational sourcing of capabilities.

Managers, technology decision-makers, and academics that want to understand exactly how processes and capabilities may be improved to gain competitive advantage must read this book.