The Case for Virtual Business Processes Reduce Costs, Improve Efficiencies, and Focus on Your Core Business

by Young, Martha; Jude, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781587200878
• ISBN10: 1587200872
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Spiral Bound
• Copyright: 2004-03-02
• Publisher: Cisco Press

Summary

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 readingThe 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.

Author Biography

Martha Young has more than 19 years of experience in the technology market and is a partner in Nova Amber, LLC, a consulting firm Michael Jude, Ph.D., is a well-known industry analyst with more than 20 years of experience in telecommunications and management automation

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvii
The Role of Business Process Virtualization in Your Business	p. 1
What Is Business Process Virtualization?	p. 5
The Role of Technology	p. 6
The Role of Executive Management	p. 8
The Role of Information Technology Implementers	p. 9
The Role of the Board of Directors	p. 10
Other Roles	p. 11
What Is Incrementalization?	p. 12
One Process at a Time	p. 13
Horizontal Incrementalization	p. 13
Vertical Incrementalization	p. 14
What Is Technology's Impact on Business Models?	p. 14
Why Alan Greenspan Was Only Partially Correct with "Irrational Exuberance"	p. 14
Technology and BPV	p. 15
Summary	p. 17
References	p. 18
History Lessons: Why Conventional Business Models No Longer Work	p. 19
What Business Are You In? Why Firms Should Focus on Their Core Business and Not Make IT a Core Competency	p. 25
Internet-Based Business Models	p. 27
Why More Data Is Not the Answer	p. 28
The Paradox of Too Much Data: Poor Decisions	p. 29
The Paradox of Information Poverty and Data Overload	p. 29
The Role of Wall Street Analysts and Industry Analysis	p. 30
Decision Modeling: A Way to Translate Data into Information	p. 31
Summary	p. 38
Case Study: vCustomer Corporation, Seattle, Washington (www.vcustomer.com)	p. 40
Company Background	p. 40
Company Overview	p. 40
Network Overview	p. 41
Security	p. 42
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 42
The Planning Process	p. 43
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 44
Barriers to Implementation	p. 44
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 45
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 45
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 46
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 46
Words of Advice	p. 46
References	p. 47
Capitalizing on Enabling Technologies	p. 49
A Day in the Life of a Virtual Employee	p. 51
Scott, You Were Right: The Network as a Computer	p. 52
Distributed Storage	p. 56
Distributed Intelligence: Policy-Based Management	p. 59
Intelligent IP Switch Fabric	p. 61
AVVID	p. 62
Summary	p. 64
Case Study: Teletext, United Kingdom (www.teletext.com)	p. 66
Company Background	p. 66
Company Overview	p. 66
Network Overview	p. 67
Security	p. 68
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 68
The Planning Process for the Office Moves	p. 69
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 69
Barriers to Implementation	p. 70
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 70
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 70
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 71
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 71
Words of Advice	p. 71
ROI	p. 72
Capitalizing on Enabling Applications	p. 73
VoIP	p. 75
Streaming Media	p. 80
Follow-Me IP Addresses	p. 81
Summary	p. 83
Case Study: KnowledgeNet (www.knowledgenet.com)	p. 84
Company Background	p. 84
Company Overview	p. 84
Network Overview	p. 85
Security	p. 86
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 87
The Planning Process	p. 87
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 88
Barriers to Implementation	p. 89
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 89
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 90
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 90
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 91
Words of Advice	p. 91
ROI	p. 91
Capitalizing on a Virtual Presence	p. 93
Telecommuting	p. 96
VLANs	p. 100
Intranets	p. 102
Extranets	p. 104
Webification and Portals	p. 105
Summary	p. 106
Case Study: ARUP Laboratories, Inc.	p. 108
Company Background	p. 108
Company Overview	p. 108
Network Overview	p. 109
Security	p. 110
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 110
The Planning Process	p. 111
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 112
Barriers to Implementation	p. 112
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 113
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 114
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 114
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 114
Words of Advice	p. 115
ROI	p. 116
Reference	p. 116
Capitalizing on Outsourcing	p. 117
Why You Don't Want to Manage 100 Percent of Your Infrastructure	p. 120
Ways to Safeguard Your Business Infrastructure	p. 124
How to Select an Outsourcer	p. 128
Summary	p. 131
Case Study: InfoWorld Media Group	p. 132
Company Background	p. 132
Company Overview	p. 132
Network Overview	p. 133
Security	p. 133
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 134
The Planning Process	p. 135
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 135
Barriers to Implementation	p. 136
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 136
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 137
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 137
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 138
Words of Advice	p. 138
ROI	p. 138
Internal Security Implications of Managing the BPV-Centric Company	p. 141
The Importance of Internal Security	p. 142
Safeguarding the Company's Intellectual Property	p. 145
Directory-Enabled Policy-Based Management	p. 147
Role-Based Access Control	p. 150
Quality of Service	p. 151
Summary	p. 152
Case Study: Motorola (www.motorola.com)	p. 153
Company Background	p. 154
Company Overview	p. 154
Network Overview	p. 154
Security	p. 155
Management's Attitude Toward Technology for the Business	p. 155
The Planning Process	p. 156
Decision Metrics for Implementation	p. 156
Barriers to Implementation	p. 157
Lessons Learned in the Testing Phase	p. 157
Unforeseen Benefits of Implementation	p. 158
Unforeseen Barriers to Implementation	p. 158
Future Plans for Business Process Virtualization	p. 158
Words of Advice	p. 159
ROI	p. 159
Financial Implications of BPV on Conventional Businesses	p. 161
Reduced Costs	p. 163
The True Total Cost of Ownership	p. 164
The ROI for a Virtualized Business	p. 169
Knowledge of Customer Issues	p. 172
Improved Decision Making	p. 173
Competitive Advantages of a Virtualized Corporation	p. 174
Summary	p. 175
Survey Instrument	p. 179
Survey Instrument Format	p. 180
The BPV Survey Instrument	p. 181
Defining Business Process Virtualization	p. 181
Why XYZ Company?	p. 182
Questions Addressed in the Interview	p. 182
Planning Stage	p. 182
Execution Stage	p. 183
Feedback Loop	p. 184
Future Plans	p. 185
BPV Providers	p. 187
Glossary	p. 195
Index	p. 209
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