BUSINESS IS INFORMATION and information is the core asset of business. These are the twin messages that John McKean relays time and time again in a book that combines detailed technical and theoretical information, statistics and a fair degree of common-sense writing.

McKean, who is executive director of the Center for Information Based Competition, says that businesses who adopt a softly-softly approach, 'the quiet ones', are the real Information Masters because they are Customer Masters.

They are the ones who are winning the race back to the customers by letting go of the comfortable processes of the past, while at the same time paying homage to the 'friendship' approach traditionally operated by customer facing organisations 100 years ago.

McKean conveys simple messages through a complex matrix of arguments, and Information Masters is very much a book you have to stick with to get the full benefit. However, for those wanting an at-a-glance guide he has helpfully included a short conclusion reaffirming the arguments he puts forward.

I especially enjoyed the way he uses the history of customer relations and customer service to underpin his view of where the future is, but with headings such as 'Payback From A Delinquency Reduction-Focused initiative Over Time' and a roster of theoretical diagrams..., you certainly need to have your thinking head on when you take on this particular tome.

BOOK IN A BLINK

Customer Masters are Information Masters because they approach their business on the basis that their business is information - Reuters being a good example - and once they do this they will find that everything else will follow.

There are only a handful of companies worldwide -around 5% - who are already Information Masters. The rest have work to do, and they can start off by taking a long cool look at themselves.

 STEVE HURST