Download or read book Fit for Growth written by Vinay Couto and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical approach to business transformation Fit for Growth* is a unique approach to business transformation that explicitly connects growth strategy with cost management and organization restructuring. Drawing on 70-plus years of strategy consulting experience and in-depth research, the experts at PwC’s Strategy& lay out a winning framework that helps CEOs and senior executives transform their organizations for sustainable, profitable growth. This approach gives structure to strategy while promoting lasting change. Examples from Strategy&’s hundreds of clients illustrate successful transformation on the ground, and illuminate how senior and middle managers are able to take ownership and even thrive during difficult periods of transition. Throughout the Fit for Growth process, the focus is on maintaining consistent high-value performance while enabling fundamental change. Strategy& has helped major clients around the globe achieve significant and sustained results with its research-backed approach to restructuring and cost reduction. This book provides practical guidance for leveraging that expertise to make the choices that allow companies to: Achieve growth while reducing costs Manage transformation and transition productively Create lasting competitive advantage Deliver reliable, high-value performance Sustainable success is founded on efficiency and high performance. Companies are always looking to do more with less, but their efforts often work against them in the long run. Total business transformation requires total buy-in, and it entails a series of decisions that must not be made lightly. The Fit for Growth approach provides a clear strategy and practical framework for growth-oriented change, with expert guidance on getting it right. *Fit for Growth is a registered service mark of PwC Strategy& Inc. in the United States

Download or read book Service Oriented Architecture paperback written by Thomas Erl and published by Prentice Hall. This book was released on 2016-02-19 with total page 792 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Service Oriented Architecture is a hot, but often misunderstood topic in IT today. Thomas articulately describes the concepts, specifications, and standards behind service orientation and Web Services. For enterprises adopting SOA, there is detailed advice for service-oriented analysis, planning, and design. This book is a must read!" --Alex Lynch, Principal Consultant, Microsoft Enterprise Services "One primary objective of applying SOA in design is to provide business value to the solutions we build. Understanding the right approach to analyzing, designing, and developing service-oriented solutions is critical. Thomas has done a great job of demystifying SOA in practical terms with his book." --Rick Weaver, IBM Senior Consulting Certified SW I/T Specialist "A pragmatic guide to SOA principles, strategy, and best practices that distills the hype into a general framework for approaching SOA adoption in complex enterprise environments." --Sameer Tyagi, Senior Staff Engineer, Sun Microsystems "A very timely and much needed contribution to a rapidly emerging field. Through clarifying the principles and nuances of this space, the author provides a comprehensive treatment of critical key aspects of SOA from analysis and planning to standards ranging from WS-specifications to BPEL. I''ll be recommending this book to both clients and peers who are planning on embracing SOA principles." --Ravi Palepu, Senior Field Architect, Rogue Wave Software "Finally, an SOA book based on real implementation experience in production environments. Too many SOA books get lost in the technical details of Web Services standards, or simply repeat vendor hype. This book covers the really hard parts: the complex process of planning, designing and implementing service-oriented architectures that meet organizational goals. It is an essential companion to any software developer, architect, or project manager implementing--or thinking about implementing--a service-oriented architecture." --Priscilla Walmsley, Managing Director of Datypic "Thomas Erl''s Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design is as good an introduction to service-oriented architectures as one could wish for. In a single volume, it covers the entire topic, from theory to real-world use to technical details. The examples are superb and the writing is wonderfully clear." --Ronald Bourret, Author, "XML and Databases" "Finally an SOA book which gets to the point with real world answers and examples. Erl guides you on a real world SOA journey. From architecture design to industry standards, this book is well written and can be easily referenced for everyday use. When embarking on your own service orientated adventures, this is the book you want in your bag." --Clark Sell, Vice President, CSell Incorporated "Organizations struggling to evolve existing service-oriented solutions beyond simple Web Services now have an expert resource available. Leading the way to the true service-oriented enterprise, Thomas Erl demystifies the complexities of the open WS-I standards with detailed practical discussions and case studies. Erl''s depth and clarity makes this work a superb complement to his Field Guide." --Kevin P. Davis, PhD., Software Architect "This book is an excellent guide for architects, developers, and managers who are already working with or are considering developing Web Services or Service-Oriented Architecture solutions. The book is divided into four sections. In the first section the fundamental technologies of XML, Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures are described in detail with attention given to emerging standards. The book is well written and very thorough in its coverage of the subject. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in enterprise level service architectures." --Adam Hocek, President and CTO, Broadstrokes, Inc. Additional praise quotes are published at: www.soabooks.com/reviews.asp The foremost "how-to" guide to SOA Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is at the heart of a revolutionary computing platform that is being adopted world-wide and has earned the support of every major software provider. In Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, Thomas Erl presents the first end-to-end tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions for modeling and designing service-oriented solutions from the ground up. Erl uses more than 125 case study examples and over 300 diagrams to illuminate the most important facets of building SOA platforms: goals, obstacles, concepts, technologies, standards, delivery strategies, and processes for analysis and design. His book''s broad coverage includes Detailed step-by-step processes for service-oriented analysis and service-oriented design An in-depth exploration of service-orientation as a distinct design paradigm, including a comparison to object-orientation A comprehensive study of SOA support in .NET and J2EE development and runtime platforms Descriptions of over a dozen key Web services technologies and WS-* specifications, including explanations of how they interrelate and how they are positioned within SOA The use of "In Plain English" sections, which describe complex concepts through non-technical analogies Guidelines for service-oriented business modeling and the creation of specialized service abstraction layers A study contrasting past architectures with SOA and reviewing current industry influences Project planning and the comparison of different SOA delivery strategies The goal of this book is to help you attain a solid understanding of what constitutes contemporary SOA along with step-by-step guidance for realizing its successful implementation. About the Web Sites Erl''s Service-Oriented Architecture books are supported by two Web sites. http:// www.soabooks.com provides a variety of content resources and http:// www.soaspecs.com supplies a descriptive portal to referenced specifications. � Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Download or read book Synergizing Management Technology and Innovation in Generating Sustainable and Competitive Business Growth written by Ratih Hendayani and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-04-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable Collaboration in Business, Technology, Information and Innovation (SCBTII 2020) Proceeding’s topic deals with ``Synergizing Management, Technology and Innovation in Generating Sustainable and Competitive Business Growth``. This proceeding offers valuable knowledge on how research can be applied to support the government by introducing a policy of economic transformation in solving various challenges and driving the business sector to gain the ability to create sustainable competitive advantages, which will lead to sustainable, competitive and quality growth. The subjects in this Proceeding are classified into four tracks: Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Economics; Digital-Based Management; Finance and Corporate Governance; and Accounting. These valuable researches inside this proceeding can help academicians, professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, learners, and other related groups from around the world who have special interest in theories and practices in the field of digital economy for global competitiveness.

Download or read book Service Strategy in Action written by Christian Kowalkowski and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's competitive global markets, simply making a great product is not enough. To achieve profitable growth and stand out among competitors, you must start to strategically compete through service and innovative solutions for business customers. Professors Christian Kowalkowski and Wolfgang Ulaga guide you how to shift your business from a goods-centric to a service-savvy model. The authors' proprietary twelve-step roadmap to profitable service growth will help you break out of a narrow product-centric logic and discover how to � determine if your company is "fit-for-service," � make the most of your existing services, � innovate and create value-added services and customer solutions beyond your products, � embed a true service-centric culture in your organization, � drive change and align your service strategy with corporate goals, � transform your product-centric sales force into a service-savvy sales organization, � design an organizational structure that promotes service growth, and � align your interests with distributors and partners. Kowalkowski and Ulaga's twelve-step roadmap is based on rigorous research and long-standing experience working with businesses. They have worked with hundreds of managers in industrial and professional services companies, conducted research projects, led executive workshops, and published numerous articles in scientific and managerial journals, including Harvard Business Review, among others. Here, they share not only their own insights but the lessons learned from successful case studies and years of extensive research.

Download or read book What the Heck Is EOS written by Gino Wickman and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Has your company struggled to roll EOS out to all levels of your organization? Do your employees understand why EOS is important or even what it is? What the Heck is EOS? is for the millions of employees in companies running their businesses on EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). An easy and fast read, this book answers the questions many employees have about EOS and their company: • What is an operating system? • What is EOS and why is my company using it? • What are the EOS foundational tools and how do they impact me? • What's in it for me? Designed to engage employees in the EOS process and tools, What the Heck is EOS? uses simple, straightforward language and provides questions about each tool for managers and employees to discuss creating more ownership and buy-in at the staff level. After reading this book, employees will not only have a better understanding of EOS but they will be more engaged, taking an active role in helping achieve your company's vision.

Download or read book The Art of Director Excellence written by John Hotta and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2023-10-02 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How would you compare what you expected of board service versus the reality?" "What do you want to say to lifelong learners of corporate governance?" Compiling wisdom and practical knowledge from interviews with over 40 board directors, spanning board chairs and CEOs at public companies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations, The Art of Director Excellence, Volume 1 presents insightful answers to these questions and more. It explores a variety of important topics in corporate governance, including developing business strategy with management, navigating risks, being a board chair or committee member on different types of boards, and improving ESG and diversity, along with the many differences in how these decisions are handled in North America, Asia, and Europe. While this book is an invaluable asset for both new and existing board directors inside the boardroom, it has use outside it as well. The real-world wisdom and experience in this volume will complement academic textbooks as shown in the appendix, which cross references commonly used textbooks to show how this book matches their contents. Academics, business school faculty and students in executive education, as well as graduate and undergraduate corporate governance classes will benefit immensely from this book. Emerging leaders in investment banking, proxy advisory, and executive recruiting will gain knowledge of the inner workings of the boardroom.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Organizational Knowledge Administration and Technology written by Khosrow-Pour D.B.A., Mehdi and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 2734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For any organization to be successful, it must operate in such a manner that knowledge and information, human resources, and technology are continually taken into consideration and managed effectively. Business concepts are always present regardless of the field or industry – in education, government, healthcare, not-for-profit, engineering, hospitality/tourism, among others. Maintaining organizational awareness and a strategic frame of mind is critical to meeting goals, gaining competitive advantage, and ultimately ensuring sustainability. The Encyclopedia of Organizational Knowledge, Administration, and Technology is an inaugural five-volume publication that offers 193 completely new and previously unpublished articles authored by leading experts on the latest concepts, issues, challenges, innovations, and opportunities covering all aspects of modern organizations. Moreover, it is comprised of content that highlights major breakthroughs, discoveries, and authoritative research results as they pertain to all aspects of organizational growth and development including methodologies that can help companies thrive and analytical tools that assess an organization’s internal health and performance. Insights are offered in key topics such as organizational structure, strategic leadership, information technology management, and business analytics, among others. The knowledge compiled in this publication is designed for entrepreneurs, managers, executives, investors, economic analysts, computer engineers, software programmers, human resource departments, and other industry professionals seeking to understand the latest tools to emerge from this field and who are looking to incorporate them in their practice. Additionally, academicians, researchers, and students in fields that include but are not limited to business, management science, organizational development, entrepreneurship, sociology, corporate psychology, computer science, and information technology will benefit from the research compiled within this publication.

Download or read book Smart Technologies and Innovations in E Business written by Popkova, Elena G. and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2024-07-17 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the conditions of the Fifth Industrial Revolution, there appears e-business 5.0, a new model of entrepreneurship in which humans and artificial intelligence (AI) are not opposed but systematically combined and effectively used. Because the core of e-business 5.0 is intelligent systems, the most important role in its development belongs to the management of technologies and innovations. Smart technologies may supplement or replace human resources in business processes, which involves various options of their combination and distribution of labor. This complicates things and requires a new approach to management in e-business 5.0. Smart Technologies and Innovations in E-Business is devoted to comprehensive research of e-business 5.0. This book discusses the systematization of international experience, determination of prospects, and development of recommendations for the improvement of the management of smart technologies and innovations in e-business 5.0. Covering topics such as big data, entrepreneurial development and dynamics, and mobile payment systems, this book is an essential resource for entrepreneurs, business executives and managers, e-commerce professionals, digital marketing experts, technology developers and engineers, academicians and researchers, policy makers and regulators, postgraduate educators and students, and more.

Download or read book Starting a Tech Business written by Alex Cowan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The non-technical guide to building a booming tech-enabled business Thinking of starting a technology-enabled business? Or maybe you just want to increase your technology mojo so you can do your job better? You do not need to learn programming to participate in the development of today’s hottest technologies. But there are a few easy-to-grasp foundation concepts that will help you engage with a technical team. Starting a Tech Business explains in practical, actionable terms how to formulate and reality test new ideas package what you learn into frameworks that are highly actionable for engineers understand key foundation concepts about modern software and systems participate in an agile/lean development team as the ‘voice of the customer’ Even if you have a desire to learn to program (and I highly recommend doing whatever unlocks your ‘inner tinkerer’), these foundation concepts will help you target what exactly you want to understand about hands-on technology development. While a decade ago the barriers to creating a technology-enabled business required a pole vault, getting started today only requires a determined step in the right direction. Starting a Tech Business supplies the tools prospective entrepreneurs and business enterprises need to avoid common pitfalls and succeed in the fast-paced world of high-tech business. Successful execution requires thoughtful, evidence-based product formulation, well-articulated design, economic use of systems, adaptive management of technical resources, and empathetic deployment to customers. Starting a Tech Business offers practical checklists and frameworks that business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals can apply to any tech-based business idea, whether you’re developing software and products or beginning a technology-enabled business. You’ll learn: 1. How to apply today’s leading management frameworks to a tech business 2. How to package your product idea in a way that’s highly actionable for your technical team 3. How to ask the right questions about technology selection and product architecture 4. Strategies to leverage what your technology ecosystem has to offer 5. How to carefully define the roles on your team, and then effectively evaluate candidates 6. The most common disconnects between engineers and business people and how to avoid them 7. How you can apply process design to your tech business without stifling creativity 8. The steps to avoid the most common pitfalls tech founders encounter Now is one of the best times to start a technology-enabled business, and anyone can do it with the right amount and kind of preparation. Starting a Tech Business shows you how to move a product idea to market quickly and inexpensively—and to tap into the stream of wealth that a tech business can provide.

Download or read book Digital Entrepreneurship and Co Creating Value Through Digital Encounters written by Edghiem, Farag and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2023-05-15 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital technologies have enabled certain opportunities for industries, societies, and companies to change for the better. The service sector has essentially evolved through significant developments in recent decades, such as the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and automated technologies, including service robots, chatbots, and virtual assistants. Both digital transformation and digital entrepreneurship are multifaceted areas that relate to varied emerging technologies that have recently dominated the current service industry. These technologies serve to enhance various sociotechnical areas, including communication and collaboration, as well as co-creating business value and promoting service automation. Digital Entrepreneurship and Co-Creating Value Through Digital Encounters contributes to the services’ digital transformation and digital entrepreneurship domain by uncovering contemporary innovations used in the modern service industry. It supports modern applications of Industry 4.0, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship to facilitate value co-creation for contemporary businesses. Covering topics such as big data management, industrial relations, and tourist destination selection, this premier reference source is an ideal resource for entrepreneurs, business owners and managers, government officials, policymakers, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

Download or read book Testing Business Ideas written by David J. Bland and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-11-06 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical guide to effective business model testing 7 out of 10 new products fail to deliver on expectations. Testing Business Ideas aims to reverse that statistic. In the tradition of Alex Osterwalder’s global bestseller Business Model Generation, this practical guide contains a library of hands-on techniques for rapidly testing new business ideas. Testing Business Ideas explains how systematically testing business ideas dramatically reduces the risk and increases the likelihood of success for any new venture or business project. It builds on the internationally popular Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas by integrating Assumptions Mapping and other powerful lean startup-style experiments. Testing Business Ideas uses an engaging 4-color format to: Increase the success of any venture and decrease the risk of wasting time, money, and resources on bad ideas Close the knowledge gap between strategy and experimentation/validation Identify and test your key business assumptions with the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas A definitive field guide to business model testing, this book features practical tips for making major decisions that are not based on intuition and guesses. Testing Business Ideas shows leaders how to encourage an experimentation mindset within their organization and make experimentation a continuous, repeatable process.

Download or read book Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Business written by Kim Walsh Phillips and published by Entrepreneur Press. This book was released on 2023-06-13 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you ready to tap into Instagram’s booming network of 1.386 billion viable customers? Your customers are on Instagram right now waiting to buy from you. With this all-new updated Ultimate Guide to Instagram, Second Edition, social media marketing expert Kim Walsh Phillips highlights what’s new and innovative, and gives you the tools you need to get an immediate return on investment. From updated cross-platform branding and marketing advice, to all new practical blueprints for funneling followers, this guide unlocks the latest secrets successful entrepreneurs use to grow their following and drive sales directly from Instagram. Inside, readers will learn: To uncover who your right-fit customers are and how to find them easily on Instagram The secret new ways of going viral to grow your audience and multiply your sales. How to use the newest features of Instagram to drive more business quickly with a simple marketing funnel that works A new content creation formula to make creating content easy and effective. Copy-and-paste resources, and a simple roadmap gets you results fast and easy Brand-new up to date examples, marketing funnels and campaigns New features of Instagram featured; including stickers, stories, polls, and reels Whether you're new to the Instagram world or you're not sure how to get more out of your profile, this guide is the perfect tool for entrepreneurs ready to flood their business with sales. With this guide's easy-to-use strategies, easy-to-adapt blueprints, and other copy-and-paste resources, you'll unlock the power to become an Instagram Sales Machine!

Download or read book Business Modeling and Software Design written by Boris Shishkov and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-07-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12h International Symposium on Business Modeling and Software Design, BMSD 2022, which took place in Fribourg, Switzerland, in June 2022. The 12 full and 9 short papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 56 submissions. BMSD is a leading international forum that brings together researchers and practitioners interested in business modeling and its relation to software design. Particular areas of interest are: Business Processes and Enterprise Engineering; Business Models and Requirements; Business Models and Services; Business Models and Software; Information Systems Architectures and Paradigms; Data Aspects in Business Modeling and Software Development; Blockchain-Based Business Models and Information Systems; IoT and Implications for Enterprise Information Systems. Each year, a special theme is chosen, for making presentations and discussions more focused. The BMSD 2022 theme is: Information Systems Engineering and Trust.

Download or read book Managing the Supply Chain written by David Simchi-Levi and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2003-11-22 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's environment of tight budgets and even tighter turnarounds, effective supply-chain management has become a core business requirement. Managing the Supply Chain adapts the number one supply-chain book on the college market to examine how professionals can consistently turn supply-chain strategy into a competitive advantage. This results-based book examines the experiences of today's most accomplished companies to demonstrate supply-chain innovation at work in the marketplace.

Download or read book The Service Culture Handbook written by Jeff Toister and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine you could develop a customer-focused culture so powerful that your employees always seem to do the right thing. They encourage each other, proactively solve problems, and constantly look for ways to go the extra mile. In short, imagine a workplace culture where employees were absolutely obsessed with customer service. The Service Culture Handbook is a step-by-step guide to help you develop a customer-focused culture in your company, department, or location. Whether you're just beginning your journey, or have been working on culture for years, this handbook will prepare you to take the next step. You'll receive actionable advice, straightforward exercises, and proven tools you can utilize immediately. Learn the one thing that forms the foundation of every great culture. Discover what customer-focused companies do differently to engage their employees. And explore ways to strategically align every facet of your organization with outstanding service. Creating and sustaining a customer-focused culture is a never-ending journey that takes hard work, dedication, and commitment. The Service Culture Handbook is an indispensable resource to help you and your employees stay headed in the right direction. Praise for The Service Culture Handbook: "The Service Culture Handbook provides the poignant inspiration and practical instruction for the difficult work of transforming a service culture into one that is distinctive, successful, and permanent." -Chip R. Bell, author of Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles "Though research continues to uncover the astonishing impact of customer-focused cultures on customer loyalty and business results, few organizations know how to get there. Jeff Toister unlocks that mystery through this practical (and fun to read!) guide to developing a culture that really works." -Brad Cleveland, founding partner and former CEO, International Customer Management Institute

Download or read book Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business written by Ted Prodromou and published by Entrepreneur Press. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How To Get Connected with More than 300 Million Customers This popular title delivers an in-depth guide to targeting, reaching, and gaining ideal customers using the latest updates on LinkedIn. LinkedIn expert Ted Prodromou offers a wealth of no- or low-cost methods for maximizing this dynamic resource. Following his lead, readers learn to link with the most effective connections for greater exposure. Updates in this edition include: Staying up-to-date with LinkedIn Contacts, Pulse, and Publisher programs Expansion of premium accounts to help optimize business profiles, stand out in search results, and track impact How to implement new features like Showcase and Company Updates pages for extended presence in newsfeeds and with followers Smarter LinkedIn Search that saves time and money with customized, comprehensive results Other important topics covered include: Techniques and tips to easily navigate LinkedIn’s interface Time saving tips on finding and matching data from businesses and people Expert guidance on super-charging a business or individual profile Insider advice on getting found through LinkedIn and maximizing search Professional instruction on promoting a LinkedIn profile The latest information is illustrated with current snapshots, fresh examples, and case studies, along with new techniques to easily maneuver LinkedIn’s interface.

Download or read book BIAN 2nd Edition A framework for the financial services industry written by BIAN eV and published by Van Haren. This book was released on 2021-07-09 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) is a global, not-for-profit association of banks, solution providers, consultancy companies, integrators and academic partners, with the shared aim of defining a semantic standard for the banking industry covering all banking activity and almost all of the well-known architectural layers. BIAN’s Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry provides its users with a set of building blocks that, when used in different combinations, can support all of the functionality and information a bank needs for both its internal functioning and its collaboration with partners in an Open Finance and Open API economy. BIAN’s Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry is freely available on the BIAN website. This website also provides a wealth of information on both the theory and practice of the standard. So why this book? Importantly, it summarizes all of the above information and guides the reader through it on a step-by-step basis. It provides the reader with a thorough understanding of BIAN’s architecture and how it can be used to support an organization on its journey to becoming an agile business organization and developing an application platform. BIAN is a semantic standard. It provides business building blocks and defines them in business terms. It provides a business view on both the business and application architectures. This second edition not only includes the more recent deliverables, it also takes a stepped approach through the different topics. It aims to be more appealing to a business audience by addressing the building blocks of BIAN and their possible use in business terms, whilst also including many real-life examples of BIAN’s usage. As such, it should not only appeal to application and business architects, but also to their managers, their business partners and other stakeholders who work closely with them. The first part of the book focuses on the theory: BIAN’s organization, the principles and patterns on which its architecture is based, and its building blocks. The second part of the book explains – in methodology-independent terms – how BIAN can be applied in different architectural layers by different disciplines, in co-operation with architects. This part of the book includes a number of practical examples intended to improve the reader’s understanding of the building blocks of the BIAN architecture and encourage them to apply it for the benefit of their own organization. The final part of the book should inspire the reader even further by clearly illustrating the synergy between the content that BIAN delivers and the architecture methodology provided by TOGAF.