Carl Longnecker Visiting Executive Loyola Graduate School of Business
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).
I have a great understanding of the overall theory of eProcess and why a company MUST have one to survive in the eCommerce world in which we live.