Futurize Your Enterprise: Business Strategy in the Age of the...

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
• Published by: Wiley
• Edition: 1st Edition September 16, 1999
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0471357634
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0471357636
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

Product Review
Two years after its release, the second edition of David Siegel's Creating Killer Web Sites remains a bestselling guide to building sites that are driven by design aesthetics rather than technological prowess. Now, in Futurize Your Enterprise, Siegel takes off his Web designer hat and turns his attention to developing a corporate online presence aimed at meeting consumer needs. He cautions readers to throw off their old bricks-and-mortar mindsets and focus not on "how to build a Web site but how to build a Web business." Siegel divides the book into four parts--"Principles," "Practice," "Prototypes," and "Predictions"--that moves from "tools and methodologies you'll need to transform your management-led organization into what I call a customer-led company," to fictional case studies that show how these techniques may be applied today, to speculative future scenarios "in which the Internet is no longer a tool but a platform for work, community-building and individual empowerment."

His suggestions include establishing an autonomous Web division that takes the medium more seriously than itself, encouraging (if not insisting that) all employees interact directly with online customers, and factoring in participatory or community aspects that actively attract those who share demographics or specific interests. Some may find that Siegel's recommendations suffer because of his repeated use of fictional case studies to make his point. However, those looking for new ideas will surely find some here. Futurize Your Enterprise is for Web masters, business people, and the many that Siegel won over through his earlier books. --Howard Rothman

Product Review
"A readable and relevant book, Siegel outlines how to avoid the six strategic traps." -- Long Range Planning, Vol 33, 2000

"David Siegel is on the cutting edge of web strategy. His customer-driven insights will change your outlook on e-commerce." -- Don Peppers, co-author of The One-to-One Future

"David Siegel uses a people-centered, common sense approach to take the Web from the realm of hype into practical reality." -- John Porter, Chairman, Telos Group

"David Siegel's vision of the future is a gift. When I look forward to the changes ahead, this is what I want to see. A future where companies co-exist with customers in an expandable, renewable relationship. Managers: you will love this book!" -- Susan Rockrise, Worldwide Creative Director, Intel

"David has taken the New Economy to an exciting new level. Futurize Your Enterprise is packed with management insights and a philosophy that celebrates life online." -- Eric Schmidt, CEO, Novell

"There has to be a basic guide to business in the e-commerce age and this is probably the best around." -- Campaign, 19th December 2000

"There has to be a basic guide to business in the e-commerce age and this is probably the best around." (Campaign, 19th December 2000)

"A readable and relevant book, Siegel outlines how to avoid the six strategic traps." (Long Range Planning, Vol 33, 2000)

Reader Reviews
Futurize Your Enterprise closely parallels the excellent book by Richard Whiteley, The Customer- Driven Company, and adds the element of how to apply Whiteley's concepts through the Internet. Futurize is the best thought-through to date of the Internet books about how to serve customer needs better. Futurize is also good for giving you simple, practical steps for implementing Siegel's universal process. Those who are interested in strategy will find that this book is all about the customer-intimacy model, as spelled out in The Discipline of Market Leaders. While that is a perfectly valid strategic alternative, most markets are led by those who are advanced in providing innovations and low-cost providers. Futurize has a lot less to say about what those other companies should do. Some of the examples seem to imply that the benefit for the majority is primarily in overcoming a negative impression with customers and potential customers through clumsy communications. A third group will probably feel excluded as well: established smaller businesses. The scale and scope of what Siegel proposes will be beyond what most people can do who have less than several million dollars avaiable to focus on the Internet. On the other hand, if you are a well-funded Internet start-up, this book can give you a basic strategy outline that will help you avoid some mistakes. In terms of content, I have only one major objection. I am skeptical about Siegel's claim that brands will be relatively unimportant on the Internet. Rather, it seems like Internet-driven branding will become very important. I notice that many people automatically go to their bookmarketed sites, for example, rather than shopping around for the best deal. Brands are the consequence of trust-building and habit. To get rid of brands, you would have to change the way that peoples' minds work. That is unlikely to occur in the next ten years. Think of this book as the best customer-focused book about creating Internet businesses available at the end of 1999. I am sure that better ones will come along in the future, because Siegel's focus is too limited to really cover the subject. But you would be well-advised to read this book. Almost anyone will learn something valuable along the way -- if only to see your ideas about how to work with the Internet constantly challenged by the author. If Siegel does another edition, I hope the next edition drops the fictional cases and uses only real ones instead. That would make the book a lot more compelling and useful. I have one final comment: How did someone who is famous for outstanding Web site designs end up with such an ugly book cover design?