The E-Business Workplace: Discovering the Power of Enterprise Portals (Hardcover)

~ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Author), SAP AG (Author), Brenda MacKay (Author), David J. Duray (Author) "Very quickly Internet technology has forced companies to change the main thrust of their business system architectures and organizational dynamics..." (more)
Key Phrases: workplace front end, workplace server, workplace software, Inter Services, Integrated Business Unit, Integrated Enterprise (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Make The E-Business Workplace Work For You

From the consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP come the keys to understanding and taking advantage of the most exciting development in the world of business technology–the e-business workplace. Written in language that is accessible to all executives and managers, in any company and industry—not just to information technology professionals–the authors explain how this user-oriented, people-friendly technology can transform your organization by empowering collaboration among its employees and value network partners. Here are answers to such critical questions as:

• How can you use workplace technology to move from integration to true collaboration?
• What are the advantages of a truly people-friendly technology?
• Does workplace technology add value?
• How are roles different from jobs, and how does the e-business workplace use roles to help people perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently?
• What are the components of workplace technology software, and how do you choose a product best suited to your organization?
• Can the e-business workplace help your organization manage change?
• Where does workplace technology fit within the broader e-business context?
• Can the e-business workplace help your organization achieve its vision?

In answering these questions, the authors support their conclusions with numerous real-world examples that move the theory behind workplace technology into practice. The E-Business Workplace also provides insights and knowledge found nowhere else, based on the thousands of technology implementations in which they and their organizations have been integrally involved. Take this opportunity to learn about a critically important technology that may be the defining factor in determining success and failure in an increasingly complex Internet-enabled economy.

From the Inside Flap

Can companies flourish in the new economy if they are bound by the traditional constraints of technology? Can they benefit from technology that helps rather than hinders people as they fulfill their roles and perform their jobs? Clearly, like business itself, technology is poised at the threshold of a new direction, and the e-business workplace–the most exciting development in the world of Information Technology–is leading the way. This timely book, created by highly knowledgeable and experienced consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP®, serves as a comprehensive introduction to the concepts that drive this invaluable technology and their practical applications.

Viewed by many of the world’s most prominent software developers as the key to inter- and intra-enterprise collaboration, workplace technology consists of a host of enterprise portal software products that, for the first time, make such collaboration possible. By enabling organizations to standardize business practices across geographical locations, by defining roles and providing working individuals with precisely the information, applications, and services they need to fulfill those roles and perform their jobs most effectively and efficiently, and by delivering a customizable front-end that is as easy to use as any Internet-based consumer portal, the e-business workplace is rapidly making serious inroads against competing products and already has been embraced by a number of the world’s most successful companies.

While providing answers to critical questions about fully exploiting the tremendous advantages of the e-business workplace, the authors provide numerous real-life scenarios and examples of theory becoming practice. They also share a treasure trove of knowledge and insight based on the thousands of technology implementations in which they and their organizations have been key participants.

In discussing this ground-breaking tool, the authors take readers on a technological journey, beginning with conceptual origins and concluding with future implications. Before reaching their destination, they cover such crucial issues as:

• The critical difference between integration and collaboration
• The relationship between technology and the people who use it, and how that relationship impacts your business
• The value proposition for e-business and workplaces
• The characteristics and components of roles, and how role-based technology can truly revolutionize your organization
• How workplace technology empowers participants and founders of e-communities and e-marketplaces
• How the e-business workplace can help your company manage–rather than be managed by–change
• How workplace technology can be instrumental in helping you get to where you want to be as a successful business.

The authors also firmly set workplace technology into a unique e-business model that clarifies its significance within a holistic, yet simple and understandable framework. And, in language remarkably free of techno-jargon, they make clear for all readers why the e-business workplace is poised to be the logical successor to a generation of less flexible, less people-oriented enterprise-wide solutions.

The E-Business Workplace: Discovering the Power of Enterprise Portals is not just a superb book about business. Nor is it just a forward-looking discourse on technology. Uniquely, it is both. Accessible and illuminating, The E-Business Workplace is a must-read for executives and managers in any industry who want their companies not only to survive but to prosper and flourish in the challenging years ahead.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (March 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471418307
• ISBN-13: 978-0471418306
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,622,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover, Develop, and Then Leverage, April 10, 2001

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In their extraordinarily informative Introduction, the authors explain that the contemporary workplace is "industry-specific, role-based, and personalized....What we mean by industry-specific is fairly obvious: information, applications, and services accessible through the workplace are relevant to an appropriate industry." as for "role-based and "personalized", they require a bit more definition which the authors then provide. They correctly assert that marketplaces "are becoming increasingly critical components of the e-business economy." They are "business hubs" on the Internet through which companies can buy, sell, or trade goods, services, and information with current business partners or with new customers or suppliers. In their fine book, the authors examine "the ramifications of workplaces for businesses of all kinds and provide insight into how most effectively to exploit their full potential to companies seeking success in the present and future e-business environment." The material is distributed within 12 chapters:

From Integration to Collaboration [a three-phase process]

People Matter: The Human Dimension [e.g. Every Individual Can Be a System Integrator]

Value Proposition for E-Business and Workplaces [e.g. Key E-Business Benefits]

The Workplace and Its Roles [e.g. Role Components]

A Day in the Life of a Workplace [i.e. the roles of CFO, Sales Manager, and Field Service Engineer]

Communities and Marketplaces [e.g. Marketplace Guiding Principles]

A Day in the Life of Community Marketplaces

Workplace Technology [e.g. Workplace Features]

From Change Management to Manageable Change [e.g. Knowledge Management]

Implementing a Workplace and Driving Business Value

E-Business and the Workplace: A Broad View

Getting to Where You Want to Be [e.g. Managing Expectations]

The reader is also provided with a Glossary and then an Appendix which explains how to use the CD-ROM provided ("mySAP Workplace -- The Enterprise Portal solution"). This is a cohesive and comprehensive book, well-written, and anchored in a wealth of real-world experience gained by the authors over many years in their respective positions within the PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP organizations. They really know their stuff.

A brief commentary such as this simply cannot acknowledge many or even a few of the key expository passages in this book. Suffice to say that the authors thoroughly cover each of the subjects indicated by the chapter titles, in process explaining precisely HOW to discover, develop, and then leverage the power of enterprise portals. What is the critical difference between integration and collaboration? What should be the relationship between technology and those who use it? What impact can that relationship have? What is an appropriate value proposition for e-business and workplaces? These and other important questions are rigorously addressed. Were a higher rating available, I would give it to this book.