In Why Buy the Cow?, WebEx Founder Explores Smart Companies' Use of SaaS, Collaboration and More
Subrah Iyar shows how companies are reinventing business processes for competitive advantage
January 14, 2008
By Jenny Carless, News@Cisco
Today's rapidly changing business environment is characterized by the dramatic evolution of communications, globalization and automation, among other phenomena.
Against this backdrop, Why Buy the Cow?, a new book by Subrah S. Iyar, co-founder of WebEx (now part of Cisco), examines these changes and how successful companies are reinventing business processes to create sustainable competitive advantage. Emphasizing the importance of collaboration and building communities across the globe, Iyar's work addresses the rise of software as a service (SaaS), Web collaboration, the evolving role of knowledge workers and the new opportunities inherent in Web 2.0 technologies.
"Today, a new generation of software companies has emerged based solely on delivering their intellectual property as a service: from Google to Salesforce.com, businesses and consumers alike can access amazing functionality, built on massive computing power, by simply connecting to it," states Dr. Timothy Chou in the book's foreword.
"Which prompts the question that is the title of this book," he continues. "Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free? Or, if not for free, by paying only for value received, completely free of the headaches and burdens inherent in 'cow ownership'."
Why Buy the Cow? features content from guest authors as well as detailed case studies and CEO insights from several leading SaaS companies. The introduction and first chapter are available on News@Cisco.
Jenny Carless is a freelance writer based in Santa Cruz, CA.