Making Sense of Business Information
March 16, 2010Paraphrasing from an article by Liz Benison of Capgemini…
Information should be the key to business success, but all too often it is a barrier. A new, systematic approach to business information management is the only way to solve the problem for once and for all.
Businesses are far from satisfied with the information at their disposal for making important business decisions. Management can rarely lay hands on the information they need or not at the right time in the right format. Information frequently exists in isolated ‘silos’ and all too often, in inconsistent and mutually contradictory versions.
Effective information management puts information at the heart of the enterprise and fully recognizes its importance as a critical business asset.
My Thoughts…
Does this sound familiar?
Assuming that you could overcome the technical issues…
- Knowing where the information is located
- Extracting the information
- Merging the various information into a single report
- Formatting the report so that it is meaningful
- Distributing the finished report to the right person at the right time
Can you provide a manager with the report they need to make their business decision when they need it? IBM says only 1 out of 2 business leaders have access to the information they need to do their jobs.
In companies that have access to business information, reports are being created by someone in IT. Your company may be one of those companies – employing a person [or two] dedicated to creating the reports needed by various people within your company. Is this IT resource shared? Is it a priority for them to provide the right information to the right person at the right time?
Critical business decisions have a direct impact on revenues and costs. That makes the information required to make those critical business decisions a critical business asset.
Your thoughts…
How is that working out for your company?
