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Summary: Futurize is worth your time
Review: This book is written by the author of the best seller CreatingKiller Web Sites, which is apparently still a highly regarded book inthe industry. Overall, Futurize is an enjoyable journey through the thought process of how to convert today's management-led businesses into tomorrow's customer-led e-businesses.The book is divided into four parts - Principles, Practices, Prototypes and Predictions. There are three additional sections that are found on the book's website. Clever, eh? In the first two parts, the author concentrates on what companies can do today to respond to the Customer-Led Revolution. In Part 3, Siegel shows how companies can change in the near future to implement these principles. And in the final section of the book, he focuses on the future of the e-Customer - a future that should arrive, in his estimation, by 2010, as most of the world goes online. The web site is not remarkable but I have book-marked several of the neighborhood pages - I think the "boot camp" is especially useful. Siegel is a strong believer that, in business, the customer shapes the organization. He states that who your customers are, not what your mission statement is, will define your company in the future. The choice of these customer groups is a visionary choice, Siegel acknowledges. However, in his world, it is the last visionary choice your company will ever have to make. Once you've chosen them, your customers will guide you in making strategic decisions. Talk about your radicals! The author lays the blame on management, not technology, for 90% of the problems companies have online today. He spends considerable time arguing for the need of a Chief Net Officer (CNO) within an organization - a position which, if successful, will no longer be needed once the business' transition has been made. He also is an advocate of allowing your customers to communicate with each other to build loyalty (he argues that branding isn't going to be as strong or important in the e-World). Happy Reading!
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Summary: Excellent bridge between Evangelists and how-to manuals
Review: "Futurize your Enterprise" of David Siegel is an excellent visionary book for every manager who wants to rethink business models and develop an E-strategy. It is not about "how to build a website" but how to build a web business. The book is divided into four parts: "Principles" describes tools and methodologies to change a "management-led" and supply driven company into a "customer-led" company. This part is illustrated by real word examples like Toys-R-Us Direct and Hewlett-Packard. "In a customer-led environment everyone in the company is responsible for the customers experience". The principles part also contains a very clear description of Internet failures and the six most common mistakes companies make online. It also explains the natural development from brocureware Internet sites to real e-business. There is also a definition of different e-customers the transparency of the Internet. "Practice" is the translation of the principles into practice. What does a company have to do to change into an e-business. There is a practical list of changes the company has to make and agenda's of meetings to organize those changes. "Prototypes" contains a number of examples business categories like grocery stores, magazine publishers, steel fabricators, real estate clearing house, book superstore, software company etc. These examples use real-life examples as starting point, and show the many possibilities to improve the customer influence by the Internet. "Predictions" shows speculative future scenario's in which Internet is no longer a tool but a platform for work, community-building and individual empowerment. The examples are fictional but very insightful and expiring. They show the possible developments into the year 2010 of the different roles of people like job seeker, homemaker, breadwinner, teenager, student, patient etc. For retailers the prototypes of a grocery store and a book store are very interesting. "Futurize your Enterprise" does not touch the challenge of fulfillment of online retailing, but there is much attention for the possibility to add information to merchandise, and the importance to focus on different customer groups. For groceries these different customer groups might be households with young children, different religions with there own food restrictions, people with allergies etc. For bookstores Siegel does a good job trying to improve Amazon.com. "Futurize your Enterprise" is focused very much on the culture, the mindset, the approach and the customers. Siegels book is in my opinion a must for every manager who is planning to develop E-strategies. It bridges the huge gap between "Internet evangelists" and "How to"-books. The book is now the number one present for clients of my company.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget it
Review: Keep your $'s. This is one of the worse books ever written. One star is way to much. You really can get better business advice from Tarrot cards. No substance and since it has been out a couple of years, history has proven his ideas flawed.
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Summary: How To Build A Web Business
Review: David Siegel is the author of the best selling book Creating Killer Web Sites, a guide to building web sites that are driven by design aesthetics rather than technological prowess. In Futurize Your Enterprise, Siegel takes off his web designer hat and turns his attention to developing a corporate online presence aimed at meeting consumer needs. He cautions readers to throw off their old bricks-and-mortar mindsets and focus not on "how to build a Web site but how to build a Web business." The book is divided into four parts--Principles, Practice, Prototypes, and Predictions. Siegel talks about the "tools and methodologies you'll need to transform your management-led organization into what he calls a customer-led company. He presents fictional case studies that show how these techniques may be applied today and to speculative future scenarios "in which the Internet is no longer a tool but a platform for work, community-building, and individual empowerment."
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Summary: The worst book I ever read!
Review: DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! If you have common sense, don't listen to the stupid people who think this book has any value. The book is made of a pile of pure stupid, simplistic ideas without any foundation. The author wrote a book about web design in 1996 and in 1999 he wrote this book, now about how people will do business in the future. The result? Just a pile of pre-dotcom-blow guru [junk]... I read this book just because I needed to do it for a course I attended and it was a torture. I wanted to throw this book in the trash can every time I finished reading one of its paragraphs, but I couldn't. If you don't believe me, just browse the book and you'll see how it stinks.
Rating: 
Summary: Good at one time, but now very out of date
Review: Let me preface this review by saying that I am a big fan of David Siegel and I have enjoyed his other books. However, "Futurize Your Enterprise" doesn't have the staying power that his other books have. This book was written in the late '90s and therefore Siegel has the same tone that many new media pundits has at that time which is a sense that nothing could sink this ship, not even God himself. As I read through it I cringed time and time again at how irrelevant some of his comments are in today's economy. This book would have been a best seller even today if the bottom had not fallen out of the Internet market. Unfortunately, this reads more like a time capsule or history book rather than contemporary business book.
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Summary: From Paris, France - Just brilliant & needs deep reading
Review: I'm a web manager and have been working in the web since 5 years. I'm also teacher and writer on the web, in France... This David Siegel's book is just brilliant and I keep on reading and re-reading it. I confirm it needs a deep and not fast reading. He talks very well of problems that undergo webmanagers in middle or big companies, and of new principles. Maybe too well, because after reading his book and his many e-cancer's symptoms descriptions,it's not always easy to stay full motivated in one's company, but he's showing the right direction, so ...
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Summary: Good Overview of Interactive Business
Review: David Siegel always puts out good books. This one is not as colorful and animated as his others, but you don't need pictures to understand more about the world of eCommerce and the future of the web and its impact on business. This is a great book for the client side managers and account executives. It reinforces the key elements behind online marketing, sales, and promotion and its importance in developing your business. With many books, by the time they are published they are antiquated, but this book will have timeless elements due to focus on branding and marketing stragegies in addition to the interactive components. -WebProjkt
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Summary: Insightful!
Review: Which came first, you'll wonder after reading this book, the future or Futurize Your Enterprise? There's nothing cryptic about the message here: Thanks to the Internet and e-mail, the little people who buy your products and services are talking to each other, and in so doing, they're becoming powerful. If you're not ready to put the customer first and get rid of your Old World habits, your business will never succeed. Futurize Your Enterprise is a patient introduction to this new era, a wonderfully workable framework for forging ahead into the Brave New World of e-commerce. David Siegel's valuable prognostications rise out of a refreshing blend of common sense and potent intelligence. Managers, get your hands on this book - it predicts your doom and your salvation. Study it and you'll end up on the right side. We at getAbstract also suggest that students and investors read this book, which will leave you pondering whether it's predicting the future, or dictating it word-for-word.
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Summary: If you're looking for real insight, don't buy this book
Review: David Siegel may have revolutionized the Internet industry two years ago with Killer App, but he totally missed the mark with Futurize Your Enterprise. Maybe it's just me but my expectations were very high. I was expecting to get insight into what eCutomers really want. Unfortunately, David only delivered warmed over principles. If you're looking for mind-blowing insight checked out the Cluetrain Manifesto.
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