"Business @ the Speed of Thought" - A best-selling book by Bill Gates and Collins Hemingway
I would like to recommend this, a best-selling book by Bill Gates. Yes, it is called "Business @ the Speed of Thought" Why this book? Not because of the fact that it was written by Bill Gates and Collins Hemingway in 1999, but because it is a great one, discussing how business and technology are integrated. It also explains how digital infrastructures and information networks can help someone get an edge on the competition.
Technology is a tool for everybody, including businesses and enterprises. Bill gates said that:
"The 2000s will be about velocity...The successful companies of the next decade will be the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work."
And that was in the late 1990s. Now, his prediction can be felt and witnessed around the globe. It is universally accepted that the capabilities of digital systems are one of the key factors in modern business and societies.
I would like to show you one of the examples given in the book on the use of digital technology to give an edge to companies.
On pages 237 - 28:
'Knowing Customers through the Sandwiches They Buy'
With its new digital infrastructure in place, Marks and Spencer is beginning to capture an incredible array of data on customer buying patterns. Data from each store is sent electronically to the main data center in London. Fully implemented, the dynamic flow of information will enable Marks and Spencer to analyze purchases as they occur (happen) instead of waiting overnight.
Marks and Spencer will be able to adjust stock throughout the day across the whole chain. Before, the company would stock its stores with gourmet sandwiches according to sales from the day before and would have to make the sandwiches at night. The retailer's 400 food suppliers worldwide will be able to make fewer products (less product) initially and then complete the orders in response to regular sales reports from Marks and Spencer during the day. A store won't need to run out or end up with excess inventory, and customers get fresher consumables.
The system will even get automatic feed from local weather services and be able to make appropriate food stocking suggestions - soup, maybe, if the forecast is for the stormy weather or meat for barbecue if the day will be sunny.
A similar application of information technology enables Marks and Spencer to work closely with its more than 300 clothing manufacturers.
When Marks and Spencer launches a dress in two colors - say, red and blue - it quickly knows which one is selling better in which markets. Suppliers work on a just-in-time basis: they make smaller quantities initially and tune production to actual sales.
Other industries have used just-in-time techniques for manufacturing components and mechanical parts. Marks and Spencer is the first to apply just-in-time inventory techniques to perishable foods and well-tailored finished clothes.
Marks and Spencer's growing database of specific customer data includes not only what item an individual customer bought on a particular day, but what else the buyer purchased in other departments and the time of day of the purchases. Marks and Spencer can aggregate this information to create highly targeted marketing initiatives. Knowing that British customers frequently buy strawberries and whipping cream together and coffee and cookies together, the company can promote and cross-sell the related items in store displays. Or Marks and Spencers can use the data on the individual level to make customer service a proactive invitation to do more shopping.
Knowing that you are a lover of fine wines and seafood, the local store can send you a postcard or one day an email inviting you to a special wine-tasting event and send you a packet of complimentary seafood recipes. Knowing your preference for a certain designer's clothes, the store can let you know when the new styles from that designer arrive.
After-reading Activities
1. Did Marks and Spencer make the right decision in using computer technology in their business? Why?
2. Is it ethical to collect data from customers for marketing purposes? Why?
B. Discussions
Why Lazada is successful in its online business?
Extensions
1. M & S ads
Reference
Gates, B. and Hemingway, C. (1999). Business @ the Speed of Thought. Warner Books.
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