Software Rules: How the Next Generation of Enterprise Applications Will Increase Strategic Effectiveness - Hardcover

Barrenechea, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071385169 ISBN 13: 9780071385169

Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2002

Synopsis

Software has emerged as the most important industry on earth. Without software, armies cannot fight, bankers bank, CEOs direct, doctors operate, engineers build, financiers invest, governments tax. True, we have engineered our dependence on software, but we have done so willingly. Now software is necessary: for groceries to reach supermarkets, for benefits checks to reach veterans, for social-security checks to reach the elderly. Software keeps our cars and trains running and our planes flying, and it makes them safe. It keeps electricity flowing through the power grid - and it consumes its fair share. It keeps our water running - and the Internet. But at present, the software industry is at the same stage the auto industry was before Henry Ford revolutionized car manufacturing with the successful implementation of the assembly line, with its total integration of the industrial process. In Software Rules, Oracle Senior Executive Mark Barrenchea lays out his vision for how total integration of software functions - "E-Business Suites" - will totally transform the business landscape and offer companies in every industry the keys to increased productivity, lower costs, successful globalization, increased customer satisfaction - market domination. Using case studies from companies such as BellSouth, Compaq, GE, HP, and Oracle itself, Barrenchea describes how e-business suites work to help companies: * Gather definitive business intelligence in order to manage by fact, not executive personality * Centralize change so that it would be welcomed - not feared - by all stakeholders * Streamline product introductions and upgrades globally - covering all lines of business, partners, and supply-chain sources * Transform marketing into electronic selling * Operate 24-7 * Dramatically improve customer service * Develop managers who can deal with new technologies strategically - instead of relying upon computer specialists, and more This book explains to managers and executives in accessible non-technical language the nature of this software integration and how e-business suites can transform any organization.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Barrenechea is a senior vice president in the CRM Products division of Oracle Corporation.

From the Back Cover

An Easy-to-Implement Roadmap for Integrating Your Company's Internal and External E-Business Capabilities

In today's unbridled rush to achieve competitive advantage, the research, development, and marketing of user-friendly and integrative software has taken on a new urgency. "Software Rules "provides an insider's perspective on which software solutions will provide the necessary integration in this fast-moving environment, and reveals a systematic, step-by-step process for implementing those solutions in your own organization.

Written by computer solutions thought leader and software industry veteran Mark Barrenechea, but applicable to virtually any company or competitive environment, this timely and essential book discusses: The value of E-Business Suites in integrating an organization's functions--both internally and globally Techniques for operating all internal computer systems from a single IT installation Strategies for instantly understanding and capturing the business benefits of new technologies

Market dominance tomorrow requires a proactive technological mindset today. Let "Software Rules "provide you with that mindset, and prepare you for the fast-approaching world in which integrated software functionality will be a competitive requirement--inside and outside your corporate walls.

"If you believe that doing things the way you always have but expecting different results is, indeed, one definition of insanity, you will welcome this book. If you agree that it's time for a new approach to your technology--and for more coherent solutions--this book is worth your time. It will cause you to think differently, ask different questions, and maybe change your company forthe better."--Marc Singer, Principal, McKinsey & Company

Information technologies are the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century. Executives first try this combination of software solutions, then that combination, and still find it difficult if not impossible to assemble a basket of solutions that makes everything work.

"Software Rules "proposes that the basket approach itself may be the problem. This intuitive and innovative book proposes the e-business suite--a complete business software platform that, because it has been engineered by one vendor around a unified global customer and product database, requires no custom programming or architectural reconstruction for full integration.

Explaining today's most sophisticated technologies in accessible, non-technical language, "Software Rules "provides a roadmap for transforming your organization's computer systems. In-depth analyses combine with case studies of e-business leaders from Oracle and Xerox to BellSouth and Humana to help you and your company: Combine data and business software into a single, customer-centric, and globally accessible database network Streamline product introductions and upgrades, covering all lines of business, partners, and supply chains Simplify data access through easy-to-use applications that require little or no user training

The Internet has changed the landscape of global business, allowing companies to interact with actual and prospective customers and vendors like never before. But before companies can take full advantage of these external benefits, and align their computer systems with those of other companies for mutual transparency, they must first simplify and standardize their internal systemsto become transparent within their own ranks. "Software Rules "unveils a framework for clarification and integration of software functions, one that is guaranteed to provide increased productivity, a foundation for seamless globalization, and a more barrier-free route to market domination.

Edition details

• Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071385169
• ISBN 13: 9780071385169
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256