The Agile Enterprise - by Nirmal Pal & Daniel Pantaleo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

With the accelerating pace of changes in technological, regulatory, and economic environments as well as in stakeholder values it is important to adapt quickly in order to survive and sustain business operations. The editors of this volume have gathered those at the vanguard of business and technological innovations in academia, government, and the private sector to share their insights, both theoretical and practical, on building an "Agile Enterprise."

From the Back Cover

"More than ever, our success -- whether in business, government or academe - depends on our ability to see change and respond to it quickly. The bar has been raised once again. This time, it's agility. Information technology and business strategies must not only be aligned, they must be adaptable. Pal, Pantaleo and colleagues provide us with a cogent picture of this new order, and offer practical advice on what to do about it."

Buzz Waterhouse, Former Chairman, President, and CEO, the Reynolds and Reynolds Company

"Increasing competitive pressures, continuous change in market forces, and rapid introduction of new technology have created a new, more challenging dynamic in business today. In order to succeed, and even survive, in this environment, organizations must adopt new business models that rely on anticipation, speed, and flexibility to create competitive advantage. The eBRC has brought together thought leaders from academia, industry, and government to provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues and opportunities facing organizations as they make this transformation. The Agile Enterprise is an invaluable resource, offering both strategic and tactical insights for leaders as they create adaptive organizations."

Kirk Rothrock, President and CEO, CompBenefits

"Forget the past, the Agile Enterprise examines the future of business and government in which the ability to change with speed defines success. Frameworks and examples abound on key topics such as business process automation, offshore outsourcing, innovation management, services building blocks, security and privacy, as well as the DNA of organizational agility."
James C. Spohrer, Director, Almaden Services Research, IBM

"The Agile Enterprise anticipates perfectly 21st century business requirements. Business must move fast and adapt to anticipated and unanticipated events andconditions. The book provides a wake-up call for anyone who thinks strategically about where business models and processes are heading. Ignore the call at your peril; take the call and re-think the velocity and trajectory of your business. Nirmal Pal and Dan Pantaleo have assembled a ton of valuable insights, recommendations and best practices into one volume that really gets it: the velocity of business change is accelerating and the trajectories are traditional and non-traditional."

Stephen J. Andriole, Ph.D., Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology, Villanova University and Former Senior Vice President for Technology Strategy & Chief Technology Officer of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. and CIGNA Corporation

"Pal and Pantaleo have masterfully assembled the newest ideas and recommendations from a collage of government, business and academic thought leaders into a body of work that provides executives with an excellent roadmap for evolving their enterprises into that fittest of all organizational species - the Agile Enterprise. A nice balance between theoretical and practical analyses - with lots of anecdotes, real-life examples and useful tools for setting and achieving goals focused on adaptability, innovation and agility. A great addition to any executive's arsenal of information for success."

Tom Crawford, President & CEO, Cyber-Ark Software, Inc.

About the Author

Nirmal Pal is Executive Director of the eBusiness Research Center at The Pennsylvania State University, which fosters research in e-business strategy, management and marketing to improve business operations. He assumed this role in February, 2000. Before joining the University, he was Director, IBM Global Services Consulting Group, White Plains, New York. As a part of a distinguished 39-year career at IBM, he directed IBM's e-business consulting practice worldwide and worked closely with Fortune 500 clients on e-business strategies. His IBM network of e-business consultants worldwide were engaged in many consulting engagements with major organizations to help them with e-business, e-commerce, Intranet/Extranet, and other Internet related activities. As one of the leaders of IBM's e-business consulting activities, he was responsible for business development in this space, as well as development of supporting analytics/methods/tools and other intellectual assets for this new area of consulting and services. He has been a member of IBM Consulting Group's management team since its' inception in 1991 that helped grow the business for this unit from zero to over one billion US dollars, and from zero to over 5000 consultants, in just seven years. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

After a career of twenty-five years in higher education as a faculty member, Fulbright Scholar, Dean, academic vice president, and Provost, Dan Pantaleo spent four years as Vice President for Product Development with an interactive multimedia education and training developer. Dan left that post in 1997 to assume the responsibilities of Program Manager for SAP America's University Alliance Program where he has been able to apply his knowledge of higher education and interactive software to significantly develop the Program. Expanding his responsibilities, he was then appointed as Director of HigherLearning Initiatives for SAP America with responsibility for several higher learning projects including the University Alliance Program throughout all the Americas. Dan was recently appointed to lead the SAP Institute for Innovation and Development as Vice President. The Institute has responsibility for research and application projects, an Executive Education program, and the University Alliance program.