Letter From the Editor Jeff Schulman - 29 November 2001 As the business climate becomes more uncertain and more competitive, enterprises are looking to extract more value by not doing things badly, and mastering the impact of external forces by proactive management. The only way an enterprise will be able to do this is to "run faster," and moving to real-time operations is the embodiment of this objective. But if an enterprise runs headlong into real-time enabling every process, it could well miss out on the real opportunities and it will certainly achieve few benefits and high costs. This edition of the e-Business Spotlight examines the issues of becoming a real-time enterprise. This spotlight outlines the main issues and highlights research that will help enterprises to understand what is involved in becoming a real-time enterprise. Although there are potentially significant benefits, the costs will be high and many challenges will need to be overcome.   Read more

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	Overview The Challenges of Real-Time Business Alexander Drobik - 29 November 2001 Hot Issue: There is much talk about the real-time enterprise. But what is it and how should enterprises respond?

Creating a Real-Time Enterprise Needs Change Management David Flint - 20 November 2001 Transforming a conventional enterprise into a real-time enterprise requires a substantial change-management program that presents major challenges. Following Gartner's guidelines will minimize the risks.		Knowledge Management and the Real-Time Enterprise Kathy Harris - 26 November 2001 Knowledge management will be required to build real-time enterprises and to interpret and leverage their capabilities. Real-time enterprises will also "raise the bar" for knowledge management requirements.
Real Time Takes Time: Reshaping Attitudes and Behaviors Carol Rozwell - 28 November 2001 Enterprises are giving employees real-time information, believing that this will result in better, faster decisions. Unless they also address associated cultural issues, real-time information will create more problems than it solves.		DeWALT Tests the Need for Real-Time Information Capture Carol Rozwell - 26 November 2001 DeWALT discovered that the consistency of data capture is more important than real-time capture. Its experience shows that well-designed pilots are a wise investment.
The Daily Reporting Obstacle Race David Flint and Nigel Rayner - 28 November 2001 Any enterprise that plans to adopt daily reporting of financial metrics such as earnings per share to the markets will need to re-engineer processes and systems and also change attitudes.		Investment Community Real-Time Reporting No Time Soon Mary Knox and David Furlonger - 27 November 2001 Real-time reporting of performance metrics to the investment community will not be needed until there are consistent metrics for reliable valuation models. General adoption probably will not happen until 2010.
Governing Real Time: Auditors Come of Age Carol Rozwell - 27 November 2001 Most enterprises don't see their external auditors as trusted business advisors. But as the trend to real-time operation accelerates, both external and internal auditors will take on this role, helping to manage risk in the real-time enterprise.		Bringing Real-Time Warning Into the Real World David Flint - 29 November 2001 In increasingly unstable times, enterprises need to detect changes in real time and issue warnings to managers so they can act before the situation gets out of hand.
Real-Time BAM Needs Models and Frameworks David McCoy and Nigel Rayner - 26 November 2001 Business activity monitoring will underpin the real-time enterprise. To interpret real-time events, BAM must leverage the models and frameworks that business process management and business intelligence offer.		Real-Time Management Needs Business Activity Sensors Kenneth Brant and Brian Zrimsek - 28 November 2001 Real-time process-control systems for industrial operations provide a model for real-time enterprises, but they must overcome a lack of live business metrics and sensors for real-time measurement. Human factors are also problematic.