Charles Trepper : E-Commerce Strategies

In the coming years, digital technology will radically increase the speed at which business is conducted. Ultimately, digital technology will transform three major elements of any business: relationships with customers and business partners (commerce), information flow and relationships among workers within a company (knowledge management), and internal business processes (business operations). "E-commerce Strategies" deals with the first of these elements by providing IT decision-makers with a broad education about the benefits of implementing e-commerce solutions in the enterprise. It also provides case studies of successful e-commerce implementations using Microsoft technologies that offer benefits such as increased productivity, faster order cycles, lower manufacturing costs, and lower total cost of ownership. The book leads the reader through each case study, describes and quantifies its benefits in detail, and provides an evaluation guide to help the reader determine whether the case study and implementation are relevant to his or her own business. It also describes a set of consistent e-commerce business applications and ties them together chapter by chapter. The end of the book describes how these solutions can be woven together into a comprehensive, enterprise-wide system of digital solutions -- what Microsoft calls a Digital Nervous System (DNS).

Amazon.com Review
E-commerce is definitely hot, but doing it well is anything but easy. In the spirit of making it easier to understand, E-Commerce Strategies serves two purposes: to frame the issues involved in planning and implementing an e-commerce solution, and to explain Microsoft's strategy in that arena.

Targeted toward decision-makers in organizations, this title defines the terminology, spells out the benefits, and specifies the pitfalls of doing business online. It doesn't answer every question, but the book does give solid methods for fully evaluating company needs and formulating a battle plan. Strategies also addresses e-commerce myths and realities and gets readers thinking about how to measure the success and cost of an e-commerce plan.

A chapter titled "E-Commerce Site Essentials" covers the internal and external features to consider implementing on a site--with a remarkable lack of screen shots of real-world implementations. Appendices list the Web sites and printed sources used in writing the book, which is somewhat helpful.

Part of the book covers the Microsoft e-commerce platform, offering an overview of the various pieces of the Redmond giant's plan--from Site Server to Windows 2000, and MSN for content delivery. This section is pretty lightweight, and it has no visual examples of Microsoft-based Web sites, but the text does concisely summarize the Microsoft architecture.

Moving into the fast-paced world of e-commerce can be intimidating. This book is good for getting managers and executives started in their online futures using Microsoft platforms. --Stephen W. Plain