The Power of Now

This book inspired me to start a company called KnowNow; I have bought a copy of the book for every executive who has joined my company to inspire them, too. The Power Of Now is a business-focused treatise on the use of publish-subscribe technology in creating highly responsive business processes. Though I agree with the reviewer who claimed the writing style is somewhat dry, I do think it is the most compelling book I've read that makes the case for IT strategists to transition to infrastructure that supports real-time applications.

This book is for those who need to use real time technology for Business Advantage and remain competitive in the connected economy. The author focuses on key concepts of "Push Technology" and describes how different it is from the conventional "Pull Technology" of the client/server world. The implications for decision makers is profound- Act in real time or fail in Business.It is interesting to see how leading companies like Bechtel are using this model to their advantage. The birth place of this concept and its development as a technology is the trading floor of financial markets where information is money in real time. After giving the conceptual framework, the technical model and case studies, the book ends with issues like leadership and vision that are essential to make this happen- Transforming your company into a "Event-driven Organization".The author draws heavily (with appropriate references) from contemporary literature on Business Management . Among all the books and articles mentioned it appears that he is most impressed and inspired by "Enterprise One to One : Tools for Competing in the Interactive Age by Peppers and Roger ".At the end is a glossary that is useful for ready reference.Take the "Litmus Test" of Chapter 2 ; You will start reading the book - in real time ! Thanks Vivek - I had a "Real week-end" with your book. ( Meanwhile please remember to return the workstation to Scott Mc Nealy - It is High Noon you did so !)

Should be made compulsory reading for all chief executives who intend to stay on top of their organisations in the next few years. Ranadive not only explains how infomation will drive the economy (from yesterday), he gave concrete steps on how an organisation may move towards using info as a tool to maximise competitve advantage. Knowledge management, making the org live for the moment, being event-driven (and proactive to the latest drip of info)...etc... Ranadive outlines to great detail how one could set up a system to achieve it. The methodologies described are not singularly his own opinion: the book is well referenced and many top companies and gurus are already on to the new economy. Only negative is: a little bit too "techy" for the general CEO audience.Do you want to join those who "Get it."? Or do you "get it" at all?

If there is one business-oriented IT strategy book on the rather esoteric (and somewhat unglamorous) subject of "middleware infrastructure," this is it! In this book, Vivek Ranadive makes a compelling business case to CEOs, CIOs and CFOs to invest in event-driven real-time infrastructure, citing success stories from leading global financial companies including Goldman Sachs and Nomura.

Vivek Ranadive has written a great book about change and how to profit from it. For those in the Silicon Valley, it should be required reading.Based upon his own experiences, this book is all about how to reorganize your company to respond in a heartbeat to the myriad events of the business day.Highly recommended.