4th Edition – Special Pre New York Issue - October 2000 

From our President: Gregg V. Rock, President, BrainStorm Group, Inc.;

From the Chairman: Becoming Proactive and Strategic 
By Ian S. Hayes, eBusiness Strategy Conference Chairman and President, Clarity Consulting Group

The Experts Corner:   Peter Bendor-Samuel provides us with an overview of his recently released book, Turning Lead into Gold - The Demystification of Outsourcing

Conference Preview: eBusiness Strategy Conference 
New York City - November 13-15, 2000

SPECIAL DISCOUNT REGISTRATION OFFER! 

 

From our President

Gregg V. Rock, President, BrainStorm Group, Inc.

Welcome to a special edition of BrainStorm Group's eBusiness Strategy Bulletin! The articles and conference preview featured in this issue will provide you with a small sampling of the issues which will be addressed during our upcoming New York City eBusiness Strategy Conference, which will be held November 13-15 at the New York Hilton.

As a subscriber to our newsletter, I'm happy to extend a special discount offer for you (and a colleague) to attend the most comprehensive eBusiness Strategy conference to be held this year!

Don't miss this opportunity to meet face to face with eBusiness Strategy "thought leaders", highly acclaimed authors, writers and editors, representatives from leading analyst and research firms, and END USER practitioners. 

Conference attendees can also schedule "One-On-One" meetings with select NYC presenters. Availability is limited, so book your meetings early! Instructions will be forwarded with registration confirmation. 

I look forward to hosting you in New York City!

 

From the Chairman:

Becoming Proactive and Strategic 

By Ian S. Hayes, eBusiness Strategy Conference Chairman and President, Clarity Consulting Group

When your CEO calls for a 15% increase in revenues next year, does your senior vice president of sales call the IT organization to request help? What about the head of marketing if told to expand market share, or the head of operations if told to increase production? In far too many companies, probably not.

Despite efforts to break the mold, IT organizations frequently remain implementers and operators of other people's ideas rather than originators of new business strategies. Small wonder that our sales executive (and probably even the IT staff) view the organization tactically. Breaking out of this mode requires IT professionals to:

  • Develop a much keener understanding of their business
    Despite the obviousness of this step, remarkably few IT professionals actually invest the effort to learn about their company's business. Consider making your organization's high flyers take a required rotation through one or more business functions.
  • Learn from the outside 
    Many great ideas come from adapting the ideas of other. How are companies in your industry and others applying technology to increase sales or reach new markets? Could some of these ideas be adapted to your company? Even if the situation doesn't exactly match your company, it may trigger new ideas. Investigate business publications and their technology counterparts. 
  • Apply management consulting skills
    If your IT organization does not already have a well-trained business consulting team, you should consider creating one. Hire business-oriented people who are comfortable with technology, not the reverse. Management consultants are strong generalists and facilitators. While they excel at recognizing and adapting good ideas to fit the situation, their role is to guide their clients into developing their own creative solutions. They help their clients accumulate the required technical and market knowledge, and lead interdisciplinary brainstorming teams to turn that knowledge into actions.
  • Conduct internal PR
    Don't expect the sales executive to conclude on his or her own that IT is suddenly strategic. Sell your organization's capabilities. Proactively present ideas to business executives and staffers. If you hear through the grapevine about the new sales target, take it as an opportunity to show how IT can help increase sales. Don't talk about the technology (few executives care about XML) but explain what other companies have achieved with the technology. The goal is to unveil possibilities and trigger an interactive discussion and brainstorming session.
  • Get the new applications, technology, etc. running as fast as humanly possible
    Don't lose your good will by blowing the implementation! Happily, for any good IT organization, this is the easy part.

If your IT organization helps the sales executive surpass the sales quota by tapping into new markets through a business-to-business commerce network or other solution that merges business and technology, you'll be every executive's first call in the future. 

 

The Experts Corner: 

Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of OutsourcingCenter.com, provides us with an overview of his recently released book, Turning Lead into Gold - The Demystification of Outsourcing

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." Mark Twain

A powerful tool has swept across the North American business landscape and now is expanding globally. That dynamic tool is outsourcing. During the past decade of its explosive, worldwide growth, corporate managers and executives have come to understand the applicability of outsourcing to their companies. A host of businesses have recognized and acknowledged its significance; they have discovered that outsourcing creates value.

Outsourcing holds great potential for those who learn how to apply its principles effectively. Conversely, there are deep pitfalls for those who attempt to use this powerful tool without first learning those principles. As someone who has for many years "carried the cat by the tail" (as a supplier, a buyer and now as a consultant), I have written this book to share what I have learned so that you won't have to experience those same mistakes and misfortunes. This book will help you understand how outsourcing works – what it is, how and when to use it, how to apply effective outsourcing principles to your business, and how to profit from it. In short, this book demystifies outsourcing. 

The book illustrates the strategic thinking that makes outsourcing profitable. With this "map," business managers and executives can avoid taking wrong turns and making poor decisions based on mistaken theories. Employees who are being swept up in the maelstrom of business reorganization will understand what is happening to them and why it is a good thing.

The book also gives direction to the practitioner. It holds advice for executives who seek to transform their organizations by becoming outsourcing suppliers. It enables those already in outsourcing relationships to gain greater value from them. Finally, it explains to investors why and how companies are creating value through outsourcing. 

This book is more than a manual on how to structure outsourcing relationships. It is a survival guide. In it, I present the theories and principles behind outsourcing, describing in detail which ones work, and which ones don't – and why. Understanding these principles is a key to making outsourcing work.

This book is divided into two sections. Part 1 is about TINA, an acronym for "There Is NO Alternative." Indeed, for companies that plan to survive and thrive in the new global, connected economy, there is no alternative to outsourcing. Chapter 1 is a blueprint for survival in a world where business decisions can be activated at lightning speed with the click of a mouse. Chapter 2 explains what outsourcing is and why you need to use this tool. In Chapter 3, I discuss the historical development of outsourcing and, in chapter 4, I address how leverage creates value. 

Part 2, "Principles in Action," is a business guide for those who are ready to cross the chasm and enter this brave new world. In life, knowledge is often gained from learning about other people's mistakes. I begin Chapter 5 with a discussion of some common traps that buyers and suppliers have fallen into, then we move to how to build flexibility into the relationship and how to make additional contributions. Chapter 6 explains the process of establishing service levels and metrics; Chapter 7 continues this discussion with a focus on pricing, including how to establish and adjust prices. Perquisites for success, as well as common practices that inhibit the creation of value, are explained in Chapter 8. In Chapter 9, I examine the various structural approaches to an alliance and how to build a sustainable contract. Finally, I sum up the promise of outsourcing in Chapter 10. 

Like it or not, outsourcing is here to stay. It is already the foundation of the global, connected economy. It was once a strategic tool. Today, the Internet has made outsourcing the pervasive paradigm. You may choose to ignore it, but you do so at your own peril – because your competitors are not ignoring it.

My hope is that you will apply the principles I share in this book and use outsourcing – much like the medieval alchemists – to turn lead into gold.

Don't miss "B2B Exchanges & Marketplaces", presented by Peter Bendor-Samuel 
at our upcoming New York eBusiness Strategy Conference on November 14th!

 

Conference Preview:
eBusiness Strategy Conference New York, November 13-15, 2000

Don't miss this opportunity to hear how traditional organizations and dot coms are building, implementing and managing their corporate eBusiness strategy - directly from the individuals charged with leading those efforts. 

Extended educational sessions detail proven "best of breed" solutions, lessons learned, technological advancements and developing trends in e-business.

Join Feature Keynote, Philip Evans, Author of Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy by Harvard Business School Press, as he discusses how these new economics of information define the managerial agenda of the coming decade.

Additional presenters include Antonio Franco, Director, Giga Information Group, Michael May, Senior Analyst, Digital Commerce Strategies, Jupiter Communications, Stephanie Moore, Director of e-Business Services, Giga Information Group, William Martorelli, Vice President of e-Services & Sourcing Strategies, Hurwitz Group and Wendell Jones, CEO, GrayHare Partners --- a complete agenda is available for your review.  

Our program will also feature real-world end-user Case Studies on: B2B Exchanges, Driving Superior Customer Service through E-Business Systems, Successful Dot Com Strategies, E-Sourcing, plus much more.

The eBusiness Strategy Conference is sponsored by over 40 organizations including The New York Times, Forbes, Upside, and the leading eBusiness Analyst and Research Firms. 

SPECIAL DISCOUNT REGISTRATION OFFER! 
Register by November 9th and save $100 OFF on-site registration 
fee of $1,495 and receive a FREE Companion Pass (a $1,495 value)!
This offer is not available online. Please call BrainStorm Group at 508-393-3266.

All Pre-registered attendees will also receive: 

  • Complimentary Research Planning Assumption on E-Business Strategies from 
    Giga Information Group ($500 value)

  • Complimentary Trial Membership to E-Business Advisory Service/Distributed Computing Architecture from Cutter Consortium ($600 value)

  • Opportunity to schedule One-on-One Meetings with select presenters based on availability

SPECIAL NOTE: Complimentary Post-Conference Seminars
The following Seminars will be held on Wednesday November 15th from 1:00 - 4:30 – These Seminars are Complimentary for BrainStorm New York attendees ($199 value).

 
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