As the cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Microsoft, the world's leading provider of software for personal computers, Bill Gates played a prominent role in launching the Information Age. Now this modern visionary reveals how expanding technology is propelling the business world into an exciting new economic era....how every manager can - and must - stay ahead of the curve...and how integrated information systems can help every organization achieve....Business at the Speed of Thought. Changes are your company has a sizable investment in technology - and is realizing only 20 percent of its potential benefit. As Gates explains, you're probably viewing hardware and software as a way to solve specific problems. But like a living organism, an organization functions best if it can rely on a nervous system that will instantaneously deliver information to the parts that need it. In clear, nontechnical language, Business at the Speed of Thought shows you how a digital nervous system can unite all the systems and processes under one common infrastructure, releasing rivers of information and allowing your company to make a quantum leaps in efficiency, growth and profits. With eye-opening, detailed tours, into Microsoft and other major corporations, Gates unveils the way digital nervous systems - from the simplest to the most sophisticated - are revolutionizing the very nature of business. You'll learn how integrated technology can:* instantly access scattered information to analyze patterns and trends * decrease cycle time and get new products out before the competition * deliver up-to-the-minute sales and inventory statistics on every one of your products, anywhere in the world * help customers solve their own problems and, using intelligent software, automatically * feed complaints to designers and line workers.....and much more.