Out of the Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow through Web Services.

Out of the Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow through Web Services, John Hagel III, Harvard Business School Press, Boston (2002). 212 pp. (ISBN 1-57851-680-3).

At first glance, you might think that Out of the Box is a book about Web services. Fortunately, it is not "yet another Web services book" for technology junkies; there are plenty of those books available. Out of the Box is primarily a book about business change for business strategists, managers, and executives. A quotation from the author of the book captures the relationship between business change and Web services: "A business must keep in mind that organizational systems can be enhanced by information technology, but not reduced to information technology." John Hagel's book emphasizes organizational and business trends and then ties in the impacts that Web services have on them. In the process, John clearly explains the immediate and long-term business value of Web services.

The author certainly has the breadth and depth of expertise to cause the reader to pause, open his mind, and listen for a while. John Hagel is an …