THE CASE FOR VIRTUAL BUSINESS PROCESSES: REDUCE COSTS, IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES, AND FOCUS ON YOUR CORE BUSINESS

THE CASE FOR VIRTUAL BUSINESS PROCESSES: REDUCE COSTS, IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES, AND FOCUS ON YOUR CORE BUSINESS

by Martha Young, Michael Jude
Released March 2004
Publisher(s): Cisco Press
ISBN: 9781587200878

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Book description

Reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and focus on your core business

  • Leverage your technology infrastructure to save money and virtualize processes.

  • Discover the principles behind BPV and the ways in which they can benefit your business.

  • Benefit from incremental cost savings, maximizing your business' ROI.

  • Learn from real-world case studies that illustrate best practices.

  • Understand the solution-provider market, maximizing the impact of your investment.

    • The dot-com collapse generally discredited the idea of leveraging the Internet to build viable businesses. Many market pundits have decried the concept without examining the underlying dynamics associated with these companies' failures. The truth is, prior business models were built on a flawed business case, not bad technology. In fact, the dot-com bubble created a whole new class of automation that, when applied to conventional businesses, can dramatically improve time to market, competitive response, and customer interaction. This is not virtual business; this is business process virtualization (BPV), and enterprises that don't grasp and apply the principals of BPV will rapidly be rendered obsolete by those that do, being quickly outmaneuvered and displaced in the market.

    BPV is the application of networked, intelligent IT infrastructure to enhance skilled personnel, processes, and assets, which enables companies to improve efficiencies, increase competitive advantage, heighten brand awareness, reduce costs, and improve bottom line revenues. Unlike business process automation, BPV focuses on new management approaches for personnel and technology, signaling a fundamental change in the way that we think about business and its objectives.

    While reading The Case for Virtual Business Processes, you will understand why BPV is critical to the long-term viability of your business, while learning how to leverage your intelligent networked infrastructure using leading-edge products and technologies from Cisco Systems.

    This volume is in the Network Business Series offered by Cisco Press. Books in this series provide IT executives, decision makers, and networking professionals with pertinent information on today's most important technologies and business strategies.

    Table of contents

    1. Contents (1/2)
    2. Contents (2/2)
    3. Foreword
    4. Introduction
    5. Chapter 1 The Role of Business Process Virtualization in Your Business
      1. What Is Business Process Virtualization?
        1. The Role of Technology
        2. The Role of Executive Management
        3. The Role of Information Technology Implementers
        4. The Role of the Board of Directors
        5. Other Roles
      2. What Is Incrementalization?
        1. One Process at a Time
        2. Horizontal Incrementalization
        3. Vertical Incrementalization
      3. What Is Technology’s Impact on Business Models?
        1. Why Alan Greenspan Was Only Partially Correct with “Irrational Exuberance”
      4. Technology and BPV
      5. Summary
      6. References
    6. Chapter 2 History Lessons: Why Conventional Business Models No Longer Work (1/2)
    7. Chapter 2 History Lessons: Why Conventional Business Models No Longer Work (2/2)
      1. What Business Are You In? Why Firms Should Focus on Their Core Business and Not Make IT a Core Competency
      2. Internet-Based Business Models
      3. Why More Data Is Not the Answer
        1. The Paradox of Too Much Data: Poor Decisions
        2. The Paradox of Information Poverty and Data Overload
        3. The Role of Wall Street Analysts and Industry Analysts
        4. Decision Modeling: A Way to Translate Data into Information (1/2)
        5. Decision Modeling: A Way to Translate Data into Information (2/2)
      4. Summary
      5. Case Study: vCustomer Corporation, Seattle, Washington (www.vcustomer.com)
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
      6. References
    8. Chapter 3 Capitalizing on Enabling Technologies
      1. A Day in the Life of a Virtual Employee
      2. Scott, You Were Right: The Network as a Computer
        1. Distributed Storage
        2. Distributed Intelligence: Policy-Based Management
        3. Intelligent IP Switch Fabric
        4. AVVID
      3. Summary
      4. Case Study: Teletext, United Kingdom (www.teletext.com)
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process for the Office Moves
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
        6. ROI
    9. Chapter 4 Capitalizing on Enabling Applications
      1. VoIP
      2. Streaming Media
      3. Follow-Me IP Addresses
      4. Summary
      5. Case Study: KnowledgeNet (www.knowledgenet.com)
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
        6. ROI
    10. Chapter 5 Capitalizing on a Virtual Presence
      1. Telecommuting
      2. VLANs
        1. Intranets
        2. Extranets
      3. Webification and Portals
      4. Summary
      5. Case Study: ARUP Laboratories, Inc.
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
        6. ROI
      6. Reference
    11. Chapter 6 Capitalizing on Outsourcing
      1. Why You Don’t Want to Manage 100 Percent of Your Infrastructure
      2. Ways to Safeguard Your Business Infrastructure
      3. How to Select an Outsourcer
      4. Summary
      5. Case Study: InfoWorld Media Group
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
        6. ROI
    12. Chapter 7 Internal Security Implications of Managing the BPV-Centric Company
      1. The Importance of Internal Security
      2. Safeguarding the Company’s Intellectual Property
        1. Directory-Enabled Policy-Based Management
        2. Role-Based Access Control
      3. Quality of Service
      4. Summary
      5. Case Study: Motorola (www.motorola.com)
        1. Company Background
        2. Management’s Attitude Toward Technology for the Business
        3. The Planning Process
        4. Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization
        5. Words of Advice
        6. ROI
    13. Chapter 8 Financial Implications of BPV on Conventional Businesses
      1. Reduced Costs
      2. The True Total Cost of Ownership
      3. The ROI for a Virtualized Business
      4. Knowledge of Customer Issues
      5. Improved Decision Making
      6. Competitive Advantages of a Virtualized Corporation
      7. Summary
    14. Appendix A: Survey Instrument
      1. Survey Instrument Format
      2. The BPV Survey Instrument
        1. Defining Business Process Virtualization
        2. Why XYZ Company?
        3. Questions Addressed in the Interview
    15. Appendix B: BPV Providers (1/2)
    16. Appendix B: BPV Providers (2/2)
    17. Glossary
      1. A
      2. B
      3. C
      4. D
      5. E
      6. F
      7. G
      8. H
      9. I
      10. J
      11. L
      12. M
      13. N
      14. O
      15. P
      16. Q
      17. R
      18. S
      19. T
      20. U
      21. V
      22. W
    18. Index
      1. A
      2. B
      3. C
      4. D
      5. E
      6. F
      7. G
      8. H-I
      9. J-K
      10. L
      11. M
      12. N
      13. O
      14. P
      15. Q-R
      16. S
      17. T
      18. U-V
      19. W-X-Y-Z

    Product information

    • Title: THE CASE FOR VIRTUAL BUSINESS PROCESSES: REDUCE COSTS, IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES, AND FOCUS ON YOUR CORE BUSINESS
    • Author(s): Martha Young, Michael Jude
    • Release date: March 2004
    • Publisher(s): Cisco Press
    • ISBN: 9781587200878