The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution

by Brian Solis

It's a new era of business and consumerism—and you play a role in defining it

Today's biggest trends—the mobile web, social media, real-time—have produced a new consumer landscape. The End of Business As Usual explores this complex information revolution, how it has changed the future of business, media, and culture, and what you can do about it.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Social Media

494 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2011

About the author

Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research firm focused on disruptive technology. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging technology on business, marketing, and culture. Solis is also globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. His new book, What's the Future of Business (WTF), explores the landscape of connected consumerism and how business and customer relationships unfold and flourish in four distinct moments of truth. His previous book, The End of Business as Usual, explores the emergence of Generation-C, a new generation of customers and employees and how businesses must adapt to reach them. Prior to End of Business, Solis released Engage, which is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to market, sell and service in the social web.

Reviews

[Magdalena · Rating 2 out of 5]

С големи усилия я добутах. Не разбирам защо книгите от този тип се пишат с приповдигнатия патос на сутрешно предаване за лайфстайл. Имаше полезни моменти, като цяло никога не ти казват нещо ново, но интерпретацията на авторите е важна. Отчитам, че я чета като поостаряла информация. Все пак има нужда от повече конкретика. Иначе много хубаво издание.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely agree that technology and social networking are changing the way businesses operate, often in a very good way. I've really enjoyed similar books by other authors, but for some reason have a hard time following Brian's train of thought or getting engrossed in this book.

I love that he has found ways to embrace the "audience of audiences." Rather than complaining that people aren't paying attention during conferences, etc, Brian finds ways to use our human desires to share information with our networks to his advantage by including them.

Interesting that even though I love the concepts behind his writing, I have a difficult time reading his book or getting through his written thoughts.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some good points, however the layout and typesetting is visually distracting, making it needlessly harder to get through the text. I picked out specific chapters and sections from the TOC that interested me and skipped wading through the rest.

[Lori Randall Stradtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Brian Solis, though I think the second half of the book could have been simplified a little more in their presentation. Great information from a guy who knows what he's talking about!

[Owen Cartwright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful insights but otherwise very dull.

[Graham Mumm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could have been summarized into a short blog post. Filled to the brim with useless marketing jargon and overly used buzz words with hardly an original insight or perspective. Very disappointed.

[Alexander Krastev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, just amazing. Especially the last chapter before the epilogue - a must read for every manager in 2015!

[Walter Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK I will admit upfront that I find Brian Solis' books to mostly be more about providing a platform for the author to massage his ego than anything else. This book is no exception as he serves up well known trends, management case studies and what I would call well worn management experience in the real world as new "insights" from the author. If you are new to the game of social media and its business ramifications, new to management and new to the body of knowledge of business and management then you will potentially find this book helpful.

[Nick Quenga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Customer-centered business is the future due to their interconnection on social media and the internet in general. History is littered with bankrupted companies that did not take technology that changes customer landscape into account. Although the premise is good, the examples are already getting dated and the premise of the book is already widely adopted to varying degrees of success.

[Ekaterina Stoyanova]

It's a good book but I think that the information was useful 5 - 7 years ago.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, it reminded me of Paco Underhill's "Why We Buy" without the heavy statistical side. This takes more of a case study approach, with good graphics of technical concepts such as "tag clouds". It also crosses over from a "how-to" marketing book using new technology, into strategic thinking and managing change concepts. His "Digital Darwinism" section combines a humanistic approach with the digital. To paraphrase, caring for the patron, not just servicing them, will be paramount to survival.

[Michelle Manire · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far so good. It's mostly things I already intuitively knew. For instance, last couple of years it's been all about engagement and authenticity. He's going deeper by talking about things like social currency and context.

I think it's a good read for many people to better usual social media to their benefit.

[Amanda Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating but sometimes scary book about how businesses will have to adapt to the new connected consumer. It was geeky enough to keep me excited almost all the way though. I wrote a longer, and perhaps better review on my blog: http://bit.ly/yAr2Pb

[Henk van der Duim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to wade through the hype and snakeoil surrounding social media marketing, this is a must-read! It is well written and explains the effects the internet has on how people communicate with each other.

[Mike Worley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a social media book every month but Brian is by far one of the best thought leaders in the social business space. This book is loaded with case studies and helpful data that Brian breaks down into tangible meaning.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book. Applicable to higher education institutions just as it applies to business organizations. In a blog post I reviewed key concepts of the book as they apply to higher ed. http://wp.me/p1N30w-Xl

[Vittorio Veltroni · Rating 3 out of 5]

An helpful, systematic account of a lot of bits and pieces out there about how to harness customer activism and conversational attitudes to help your business.
Particularly helpful is the section on the decision process.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of it was a little too high-level for me. But I did enjoy Solis' categorization of companies based on their social media strategies. Chapters 18 and 20 were my favorite.

[Neve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concepts and information badly put together. I struggled to extract what I needed here.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quote best sums up this book;

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. —Charles Darwin

[Mary Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is available in electronic format and I read it on my iPad.

[Luaba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good graphics, good case studies, good business acumen and good narrative. A good pick for entrepreneur on how to make social site work for you.

[Ray Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

[Michael W Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very..very good and insightful.

[Emily Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for all marketers. Read my full review on Ms. Adverthinker.

[Alexander Novicov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian is an excellent person. I love his mentality and approach to digital marketing. The book is fantastic, I believe that his books are a bit hard to read.

[Joska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessant, maar erg veel herhaling.

[Phil Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hodgepodge of jargon and poorly conceived ideas. I had to stop 70 pages in. At least it gave me some fodder for Message Not Received: Why Business Communication Is Broken and How to Fix It.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok...but it is too much like his other book, so don't bother reading both. It is also very focused on B2C...not very helpful for B2B :(

[Francisco Prado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fight against Digital Darwinism....keep your business relevant. A must read for every entrepreneur and business owner or CEO.