Business at the Speed of Thought is far more than a position paper on his business strategies, nor is it a public relations effort to soften the critics or judiciary overseers. The book takes a higher conceptual approach, focusing on the imperative role of information and knowledge management will play in running today's organizations. Gates speaks as a consultant, using the successes and failures of real companies, in a case-study approach, to support his philosophies and strategies. It is more basic than revolutionary, but the vision is expressed with great clarity and given depth and breadth through pragmatic, working examples.
CEO's, other organizational leaders, and managers at all levels can potentially benefit from the ideas illustrated. As a small business owner, I found at least half of the content relevant to improving the efficiency of my business operations. Further, those who believe that technology will continue to play an increasingly significant role in the marketplace, should grab a cup of coffee, a pen, and actively read this book.
The book is organized into four distinct sections: information flow, commerce, knowledge management, and business operations. The author's basic premise is that the success or failure of an organization will depend on how well they gather, manage, and use information. Gathering information is the first step in this direction. Gates observes the importance of gathering "business facts", which encompass internal as well as external forces. These business facts concern customers, vendors, distributors, competitors, and internal systems and procedures.
DISCUSSION
While Gates coherent 12-step program to the implementation of a "Digital Nervous System" is a useful guide to better integrate IT with existing business resources, it unfortunately gave little attention to much deserved social and psychological issues. Gates refuses to admit any problems with technology. This technological utopianism results in an incomplete analysis and does not discriminate at all. As a result, the potential pitfalls are not identified, which could lead to oversight. Functionally, it may lead to a blind, non-discriminatory adoption to digital processes. This absolute change to may produce the inefficiency it is meant to eliminate.
Under this approach, the problems fade into the background because the technology is so perfect. For example, Gates insists that communication flow through the organization over e-mail so that you can act on news with reflex like speed. It is difficult to take a 'key step' like this seriously. Is the ability to act with 'reflex-like speed' really a function of the communication medium, or is it dependent on such factors as experience, intelligence, etc.? Is there no downside to e-mail? What of the lack of truly human communication, that is, fact-to-face, if e-mail is used for all communication? Is it surprising that chief executives fly around the world almost continuously to talk face-to-face? Do they use e-mail, or do they prefer to see the whites of the potential partner's eyes?
Despite these criticisms, I enjoyed this book from cover to cover, and have used its content to increase the productivity of the technological resources owned by my business. Business @ the Speed of Thought illustrates its concepts with detailed case studies of top-notch companies as well as Microsoft in a variety of industries, making the "Digital Nervous System" relevant to a broad and diverse audience. He uses accurate yet easy to understand language, abandoning technical jargon. This, combined with an introduction which provides a clear layout of the books objectives, produces a coherent and pragmatic resource for all people, business persons and non-business persons.
The analysis within the case studies gives examples of how IT can improve, or did improve, failed processes. These examples of already successfully re-engineered information networks, provides concrete methods of how to manage inventory, sales, customer relationships, etc. Because Gates draws from a diverse field of companies, the advice of Gates is useful for all business people of all types of organizations, from service to merchandising, and profit to non-profit.
In addition, the concept of a "Digital Nervous System" can be applied to the personal lives of people who are adapting what he calls a Web Lifestyle. I concur with Gate's conviction that the success of businesses will be a function of how you gather, manage, and use information. Subsequently, Business @ the Speed of Thought goes a long way to increasing vital IT knowledge and skills; and these life-long skills are as important for personal, academic, and professional achievement as traditional academic knowledge and skills such as Math and Science.
CONCLUSION
While Gates breaks no new ground, he provides specific examples that illustrate the necessary steps to help businesses capitalize on their IT investment, and authentic examples of its realized benefits. I recommend this book to anybody who feels they are unclear on how to integrate IT with current business operations, as well as to individuals who desire to learn more about how to utilize technology to improve their personal tasks. I do not believe Business @ the Speed of Thought is just a finely tuned marketing campaign, but it may be hard for those who do not favor Microsoft to listen to Gates for the entire length of the book. In this case I recommend people read selected chapters that are in line with their individual or business IT objectives. As Gates has shown time and time again, him, Microsoft, and perhaps even this book you may ignore at your own peril.