Excerpt: VoiceCon 2000
(2-8-2000)
“I believe the key to competitiveness comes not from any single technology or even specific applications, although both are very important.
"Fundamentally, I believe the answer is in getting down to the basics and taking a holistic look at your entire value chain, and fully understanding the assets there that make up your competitive advantage. Then, based on that evaluation, you can use an array of communications technologies and applications to tightly link those assets to your customers, your suppliers and as well your business partners.
“A lot of our current thinking about this challenge at Lucent Technologies comes under the rubric of networked virtual enterprises, or the virtual enterprise. We see the virtual enterprise as the next big step for both established companies as well as Internet start-ups. We believe both types of players will ultimately be molded and configured as virtually networked enterprises to meet the intense competitive pressures that are already apparent in today’s real world.
“The virtual enterprise vision begins and ends with the customer. The goal is take all of the assets, all of the people, and all of the processes that are needed within an operation, and to get them connected to that customer – in a way that best matches his or her needs and expectations.
“The next step is to improve end-to-end performance, streamline operations and do a better job of managing costs. You do that by evaluating each of the required functions, and deciding which are more strategic and better retained in-house, versus those secondary or specialized tasks which might be better provided by outside suppliers or partners – for reasons of cost, or speed to market, or both.
“And then ultimately, the enterprise goes virtual – by taking the same technology and applications that you have connecting customers to internal people and processes – and using it to also link up outside suppliers and partners. In essence, getting everything focused on that 'market of one.'
The result presented to the customer is a complete, end-to-end operation that’s responsive to customer needs and appears to be a single enterprise, even though it’s actually made up of a group of partners, each doing what they do best.
“As such, the virtual enterprise will gain significant advantages of speed and responsiveness. In the long run, I expect that this networked virtual enterprise model will transform the global economy and change many aspects of how we live our business and personal lives. For the near term, we are really just at the beginning of this new era in business and commerce. Two years from now I’m sure we’ll look back on some incredible changes we couldn’t begin articulate today.”
Like what you're reading? Let's talk. Contact Curtis Wilson at i&p.
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