Information Revolution : Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business - Hardcover

Jim Davis; Gloria J. Miller; Allan Russell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471770728 ISBN 13: 9780471770725

Publisher: Wiley, 2006

Synopsis

A strategic model for identifying, evaluating, and improving information use

"Fundamentally changes how you look at the role of information technology and takes it to the leadership level, which is the only way for business performance to be maximized in this global economy."
--Ron Milton, Executive Vice President, Computerworld

"Information Revolution is truly a must-read for those who generate, support, and make decisions for their respective organizations. By the way, that would be everybody."
--Bob Schwartz, Vice President and Chief Information Officer,

Panasonic Corporation of North America

"As this book clearly describes, information management advances both through evolution and intelligent design. The ideas herein will help any organization avoid extinction!"
--Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor and Director of Research, Babson College

"This model captures the best practices from the early stage of Business Intelligence development through the most sophisticated environments where the value and nature of information is unquestioned. All of us should strive to reach the final level. And now we have the ultimate guide to help us get there."
--Claudia Imhoff, President, Intelligent Solutions, Inc.

"Managing a successful Business Intelligence effort requires a long-term view and this means leaders must have a methodology to guide them as they navigate their organization through the BI evolution. Information Revolution provides the prag-matic road map all executives can understand and follow."
--Irving Tyler, Chief Information Officer, Quaker Chemical Corporation

"Information Revolution is the perfect blend of 'what,' 'how,' and especially 'why.' This book is a must-read for those driven to excel in this information-based world, instead of being another 'me, too' along for the ride."
--Bruce Barnes, former chief information officer, Nationwide Financial Services

"Information Revolution provides a powerful framework for assessing the current state of your company's systems and its decision making capabilities. It then presents a clear process for moving your systems and your company toward an adaptive and innovative enterprise."
--Michael Hugos, Chief Information Officer, Network Services Company

About this title

From the Inside Flap

If you thought it had already happened, think again. The revolutionary impact of information technology on the marketplace has barely begun, but the pace of change is accelerating rapidly. Over the next decade, companies will experience increasing pressure to find new and better ways to look at, understand, and then act in and upon the information-rich world in which we now operate. To accomplish this goal, the information management structure must transcend its adjunct support function and become the essential foundation of corporate performance.

Information Revolution enables any organization, no matter how underdeveloped or convoluted its current information architecture, to become an information-driven "intelligent entity"—a survivor.

This utterly practical yet profoundly transformative guide introduces the Information Evolution Model (IEM), a simple but powerful framework for evaluating, configuring, and maximizing the information management infrastructure of any organization.

The model identifies five levels of information management maturity:

1. Operational: individual data "ownership" and control is applied to tackle day-to-day functional issues
2. Consolidation: individual-level perspective is replaced by departmental- or functional-level standards, metrics, and perspective on all dimensions
3. Integration: expands Level 2 consolidation into an enterprise-wide view
4. Optimization: the organization understands its markets and adapts constantly to stay optimally aligned with them
5. Innovation: a significant percentage of revenue is gained from projects and ideas less than three years old; growth is fueled by ongoing creativity and renewal

A chronological description of the IEM steps helps managers determine which level their organization occupies within the model—stunningly, some 70 percent of today's companies will discover that they operate at Level 2 or lower. Next, the model helps managers construct a corporate treasure map to determine where the company needs to be and choose the fastest, most reliable route to that destination. This path toward information-management optimization operates in four dimensions: human capital, processes, corporate culture, and infrastructure, each of which can impact information usage positively or negatively.

Complete with enlightening case studies of how real companies have used IEM to slash costs, boost productivity, and stay well ahead of the innovation curve, Information Revolution provides what every company needs: a strategic framework for making optimum use of its most abundant resource.

About the Author

Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, SAS
Jim Davis, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for SAS, is responsible for providing strategic direction for SAS products, solutions and services as well as global messaging about SAS.
Upholding the company’s focus to be customer driven, Davis helped lead the transformation of SAS from a tools provider to the customerdriven software solutions provider it is today. He has built a team of strategists with industry-specific expertise who research the marketplace and partner with engineers in R&D to hone customized solutions for each industry. He has overseen a dramatic increase in SAS’ profile.
Also known for his industry leadership, he has helped develop the Information Evolution Model, a means for companies to assess how effectively they use information to drive business. By outlining how information is managed and utilized as a corporate asset, the model enables organizations to evaluate their use of information objectively, providing a framework for making improvements necessary to compete in today’s global arena.
With a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University, Davis began his career as a software developer, providing systems for large newspaper publishers. He went on to manage software development and information technology for a large publishing organization in the southeastern United States, and then to assume the general manager role for a regional business magazine in Charlotte, N.C.
He then returned to technology leadership, directing IT operations for a global engineering society based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Davis joined SAS in 1994 as an enterprise computing specialist focused on IT issues. He served as program manager for data warehousing, one of SAS’ first global projects to incorporate customer feedback in the development process. It was in this role that he began to develop the model for continuous communication among engineers, marketing experts, and customers that he champions today. From there he was promoted to director of product strategy, and then vice president of Worldwide Marketing before assuming his current role.

Vice President, Professional Services Division, SAS International
Gloria Miller heads the international professional services division (PSD), is the executive manager for the development of the SAS Industry Intelligence Solution development team, and is on the board of Directors of SAS Global Services (SGS).
Miller oversees PSD’s mission to provide consulting and education services around SAS software offerings in 45 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Her team has developed an extensive knowledge management practice, which is heavily used to share skills and best practices around the world and which serves as the basis for SAS’ leading-edge industry solutions.
As executive manager for the development of the SAS Industry Intelligence Solutions, Miller is responsible for the company’s family of solutions for various industries, including banking, telecommunications, retail, and insurance. SAS solutions help organizations gain the insight they need to effectively implement business strategies, retain and grow customer relationships, maximize profits, leverage existing technology, and take full advantage of enterprise-wide data. These flexible, extensible solutions include prebuilt, industry-specific data and analytical models, as well as streamlined processes and techniques that speed up both implementation and results, giving customers a fast track to significant ROI.
In addition, Miller sits on the board of directors of SAS Global Services (SGS) operations headquartered in Pune, India. A subsidiary of SAS, SGS is focused on developing software products and solutions, and is part of the company’s global research and development (R&D) efforts.
Throughout her career of more than 17 years in the IT industry, Miller has received accolades for her skills in full life-cycle systems development, data modeling, application development, postproduction support, database administration, database performance tuning, and end-user training.
Miller holds a masters degree in business administration from Bowie State University and a bachelor of science degree from Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia.

Senior Vice President, Strategy, SAS International
As senior vice president of strategy with SAS International, Allan Russell works closely with development teams in Cary to ensure that SAS software meets and anticipates the needs of SAS’ international customers.
He also directs European software development projects. With over 25 years experience working for SAS’ International head office in Heidelberg he has accumulated in-depth expertise of every area of SAS software and the technologies it supports. He also has extensive knowledge of the business applications of SAS from talking, and listening to, SAS customers.
Russell is one of the principle authors of SAS’ intelligence platform, an open and scaleable architecture that allows for rapid development of end-to-end intelligence systems that meet user needs and are easy to adapt as those needs change.
He graduated in computing science from Glasgow University in 1975.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0471770728
• ISBN 13: 9780471770725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224