Information managementhas become an
industry buzzword for the consolidation of any type of information,
be it governance information, architecture information or
integration information.
Executives find themselves awake at night worrying about what is
happening with their data. These concerns are justified given the
numerous stores of data, the different places where it exists, and
the recent raft of related legislation.
Getting value from data
But it appears that these worries could soon be addressed. New
research suggests that CIOs share a vision for using information
management to obtain value from data and gain competitive
advantage. CIOs surveyed by Accenture said they had their sights
set on adopting an enterprise-wide information management strategy
within three years.
CIOs are investing in information management to help them
outperform the competition, rather than merely helping them stay in
the game, and they recognise the value that information management
brings to their business.
The hurdles CIOs face in achieving this are funding and data
quality, with technology seen as only a small obstacle owing to the
maturity of the tools available.
When asked what the main driver behind adopting an integrated
approach to accessing and analysing data was, more than 60% said it
was to achieve competitive differentiation through new markets,
more revenue and innovation. Asked to rank the ways in which
information brings business value, "better analysis and decision
making" was the top choice for respondents.
Business intelligence and improving the management of data are
seen as sources of differentiation. Nearly 30% of respondents
indicated that business intelligence, datawarehousing, data
management and data architecture would receive investment in the
next 12 to 18 months.
Integrated approach
The research backs up the idea of an enterprise-wide, integrated
approach to managing and creating value from an organisation's
diverse information assets.
This approach acknowledges all types of data, structured and
unstructured, internal and external. The entire information cycle -
including acquisition, storage, integration and analysis - needs to
be considered a business asset.
The technology needed for managing information must also be
considered, along with ensuring security, governance and enterprise
standards. The integration of people, processes and technologies
also has to be included if the plan is to drive long-term
performance gains.
There is little doubt that a comprehensive information
management strategy enables companies to maintain a focus on both
structured and unstructured data.
We are seeing a shift away from the silo approach towards a
desire to introduce the kind of comprehensive integration and
information management capabilities that cultivate a
high-performance business.