[My review of the 12min summary]

Gates wrote this back in 1999. It's kind of quaint looking back at it now.

He basic premise is that change is happening so fast now that companies have to be able to respond and adapt quickly to those changes. He advocates creating a "digital nervous system", modeled on the human nervous system, at your company.

He has 12 key steps to create a digital information flow within your company:

1. Create a communication flow in your organization in order to react to news with reflex-like speed.
2. Look at your sales data online to spot patterns and share your insights.
3. Let PCs do the business analysis so you can shift your knowledge workers to higher positions.
4. Create cross-departmental, global teams using digital tools.
5. Use digital systems instead of paper processes to reduce administrative bottlenecks.
6. Use digital tools to get rid of single-task jobs.
7. Create an easy-to-handle and accessible feedback loop to improve the quality of your products and services.
8. Create digital systems that route customer complaints to those who are specialized in the respective product or service.
9. Utilize digital communications to newly define the nature of your business and its boundaries.
10. Exchange information for time.
11. Eliminate the middleman from customer transactions with digital delivery of sales and services. If you are the middleman, use digital tools to increase your value in transactions.
12. Use digital tools to let customers solve routine problems for themselves.

This is all generally good advice. I doubt it was visionary when the book was released in 1999. These days you can find newer advice that is better suited to our current times in other books.

Final Notes (quoted from 12min)

"For any business to survive in the fast and ever-changing Information Age, a business needs to stay agile and alert. Create a 'digital nervous system' to connect the departments of your company and to allow for an open flow of information. In a company culture where everyone is involved, and people can freely communicate, opportunities for growth are identified quickly and the overall value of your company increases.

"'Business at the Speed of Thought' provides a unique historical window into how companies were adapting to the new digital age in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some of the lessons shared by Bill Gates in this book retain much of their relevance to this day."