The information-strategy imperative

By Stephen Gallagher

A recent Gartner article suggested that by 2012, companies will need to handle 30 times more data than in 2002.

As technology has advanced, the types and sources of information available have exploded and they now include not only structured data managed by enterprise systems, but also unstructured material, such as text documents, visual images and audio. Today it is estimated that four-fifths of all corporate data is held in an unstructured format.

More recently, security concerns and regulatory requirements, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II, have added to the pressure on organisations not only to acquire data but also to exert greater control over its flow, complicating the already significant challenges of data storage and control.

Security, in particular, has become a major issue. In one case, two major data warehousers inadvertently allowed unauthorised access to confidential customer information. In another, a big-name US bank lost data records it was moving from one location to another.

In the face of such challenges, organisations continue to struggle in their efforts not only to acquire and manage data, but also to use this data in meaningful ways. While some have solutions to tackle discrete challenges, far too often, efforts are not integrated.

This means that data is stuck in silos and the people working with the data lack a common understanding of what it means and how it can be useful. Sometimes, they are unwilling to share data across divisional boundaries or are unclear about the rules and responsibilities for data governance.

So how to address the challenges and get more insight from all that data? What is needed is an integrated approach to managing information that provides timely, reliable and relevant information for making strategic, managerial and operational decisions at all levels of the organisation.

The days of simply managing structured data are over. Now, organisations must also contend with unstructured materials, as well as questionable data quality from external sources – most notably, the internet.

Likewise, information management should embrace the entire information lifecycle including acquisition, storage, cleansing, integration and ultimately, analysis. It is about bringing together and analysing both structured and unstructured data as a usable commodity.

A growing number of organisations recognise how effective information management can enhance performance. Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, for example, is an organisation that has taken an especially comprehensive approach to information management.

Pfizer’s concern was whether its tax unit had sufficient information management capability to handle a huge new workload resulting from two corporate mergers – first with Warner-Lambert and then with Pharmacia Corporation – and also from the need to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Pfizer’s tax unit assembled a team to look at the full scope of the company’s data management infrastructure. Data warehousing and reporting were reconciled to ensure high-quality data is delivered and to enable high-value data analysis and review.

The team developed a document management system and standardised processes, then implemented a tax information system to help bridge the company’s financial systems and to build data cumulatively to meet different reporting and filing deadlines. A tax portal was developed to provide each user with easy, ready access to all the tools and information needed on a day-to-day basis. A balanced scorecard, meanwhile, displays key metrics for executives.

The work at Pfizer’s tax division went beyond technical design and implementation: organisational change was crucial to the transformation.

Roles and responsibilities were clarified and made more transparent, and work processes were reengineered to align with the new information management systems. The solution was implemented in late 2004, and significant efficiency improvements have already been realised.

Many other organisations are starting to appreciate that high performance demands more than data acquisition and control. By taking a more comprehensive approach to information management that enables them to create value from data by providing timely, reliable and relevant information, they are in a better position to make strategic, managerial and operational decisions at all levels.

Stephen Gallagher is senior director of information management, EMEA, at management consultancy Accenture. He has spent the past 20 years in the role of both a management consultant – specialising in corporate business intelligence strategy, return on investment cases and governance on business intelligence implementations – and, as a technical consultant, specialising in data migration, front-end reporting and data mining.