Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology

Information Systems: A Manager\'s Guide to Harnessing Technology......Page 1
Information Systems: A Manager\'s Guide to Harnessing Technology......Page 2
Contents......Page 5
Publisher Information......Page 9
About the Author......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Dedication......Page 14
Preface......Page 15
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Technology and the Modern Enterprise......Page 17
1.1 Tech’s Tectonic Shift: Radically Changing Business Landscapes......Page 18
1.2 It’s Your Revolution......Page 20
1.3 Geek Up—Tech Is Everywhere and You’ll Need It to Thrive......Page 23
1.4 The Pages Ahead......Page 30
Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners from Losers......Page 35
2.1 Introduction......Page 36
2.2 Powerful Resources......Page 44
2.3 Barriers to Entry, Technology, and Timing......Page 56
2.4 Key Framework: The Five Forces of Industry Competitive Advantage......Page 59
Chapter 3: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems......Page 63
3.2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data......Page 64
3.3 Moving Forward......Page 70
3.1 Introduction......Page 73
Chapter 4: Netflix: The Making of an E-commerce Giant and the Uncertain Future of Atoms to Bits......Page 78
4.1 Introduction......Page 79
4.2 Tech and Timing: Creating Killer Assets......Page 82
4.3 From Atoms to Bits: Opportunity or Threat?......Page 93
Chapter 5: Moore’s Law: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager......Page 100
5.1 Introduction......Page 101
5.2 The Death of Moore’s Law?......Page 114
5.3 Bringing Brains Together: Supercomputing and Grid Computing......Page 119
5.4 E-waste: The Dark Side of Moore’s Law......Page 123
Chapter 6: Understanding Network Effects......Page 128
6.1 Introduction......Page 129
6.2 Where’s All That Value Come From?......Page 131
6.3 One-Sided or Two-Sided Markets?......Page 135
6.4 How Are These Markets Different?......Page 137
6.5 Competing When Network Effects Matter......Page 141
Chapter 7: Peer Production, Social Media, and Web 2.0......Page 152
7.4 Electronic Social Networks......Page 153
7.5 Twitter and the Rise of Microblogging......Page 160
7.6 Other Key Web 2.0 Terms and Concepts......Page 166
7.7 Prediction Markets and the Wisdom of Crowds......Page 173
7.8 Crowdsourcing......Page 176
7.9 Get SMART: The Social Media Awareness and Response Team......Page 179
7.1 Introduction......Page 192
7.2 Blogs......Page 199
7.3 Wikis......Page 203
Chapter 8: Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph......Page 208
8.1 Introduction......Page 209
8.2 What’s the Big Deal?......Page 213
8.3 The Social Graph......Page 217
8.4 Facebook Feeds—Ebola for Data Flows......Page 220
8.5 Facebook as a Platform......Page 222
8.6 Advertising and Social Networks: A Work in Progress......Page 226
8.7 Privacy Peril: Beacon and the TOS Debacle......Page 233
8.8 Predators and Privacy......Page 237
8.9 One Graph to Rule Them All: Facebook Takes Over the Web......Page 239
8.10 Is Facebook Worth It?......Page 245
Chapter 9: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers......Page 249
9.1 Introduction......Page 250
9.2 Operating Systems......Page 253
9.3 Application Software......Page 258
9.4 Distributed Computing......Page 263
9.5 Writing Software......Page 269
9.6 Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Tech Costs Go Way beyond the Price Tag......Page 273
Chapter 10: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free......Page 277
10.2 Open Source......Page 278
10.3 Why Open Source?......Page 282
10.4 Examples of Open Source Software......Page 285
10.5 Why Give It Away? The Business of Open Source......Page 287
10.6 Cloud Computing: Hype or Hope?......Page 292
10.7 The Software Cloud: Why Buy When You Can Rent?......Page 294
10.8 SaaS: Not without Risks......Page 300
10.9 The Hardware Cloud: Utility Computing and Its Cousins......Page 303
10.10 Clouds and Tech Industry Impact......Page 307
10.11 Virtualization: Software That Makes One Computer Act Like Many......Page 311
10.12 Make, Buy, or Rent......Page 313
10.1 Introduction......Page 316
Chapter 11: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage......Page 318
11.1 Introduction......Page 319
11.2 Data, Information, and Knowledge......Page 322
11.3 Where Does Data Come From?......Page 327
11.4 Data Rich, Information Poor......Page 334
11.5 Data Warehouses and Data Marts......Page 337
11.6 The Business Intelligence Toolkit......Page 341
11.7 Data Asset in Action: Technology and the Rise of Wal-Mart......Page 347
11.8 Data Asset in Action: Harrah’s Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector......Page 351
Chapter 12: A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications......Page 358
12.1 Introduction......Page 359
12.2 Internet 101: Understanding How the Internet Works......Page 360
12.3 Getting Where You’re Going......Page 370
12.4 Last Mile: Faster Speed, Broader Access......Page 378
Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else)......Page 389
13.1 Introduction......Page 390
13.2 Why Is This Happening? Who Is Doing It? And What’s Their Motivation?......Page 393
13.3 Where Are Vulnerabilities? Understanding the Weaknesses......Page 397
13.4 Taking Action......Page 414
Chapter 14: Google: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond......Page 424
14.1 Introduction......Page 425
14.2 Understanding Search......Page 431
14.3 Understanding the Increase in Online Ad Spending......Page 437
14.4 Search Advertising......Page 439
14.5 Ad Networks—Distribution beyond Search......Page 446
14.6 More Ad Formats and Payment Schemes......Page 451
14.7 Customer Profiling and Behavioral Targeting......Page 454
14.8 Profiling and Privacy......Page 459
14.9 Search Engines, Ad Networks, and Fraud......Page 464
14.10 The Battle Unfolds......Page 468
Please share your supplementary material!......Page 478