Economic Volatility: Surviving the Sea Change

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As a recent Accenture survey has shown, organizations consider effective information management as a means to outgrow the competition rather than just to stay in business. Information that drives decision making can only be achieved if data is fully integrated and effectively managed. In a climate of economic volatility, an organization's best assets-its information assets-can be critical to survival.

Insight about businessesí operational levers and the analysis of customer behavior represents the lifeblood of organizations. By evaluating their information assets, filtering them through a maturity gap analysis process and defining how to optimize those capabilities, organizations can build a road map for the future. In short, by defining an information strategy, organizations can charter an approach that not only allows them to execute information transformation, but also provides the means to handle the business demands of today and tomorrow.

With today is plethora of information demands, it is easy to focus on a short-term fix for managing information without keeping a long-term destination in mind. Effective management of information assets, in line with an information vision that outlines the strategy and defines the destination, can transform business outcomes. In much the same way that the enterprise resource planning (ERP) boom in the past 10 to 15 years has unified transactional systems and processes, so too can information management capabilities be revitalized by a strategic and integrated approach. Indeed, having a consolidated view of what tools and technologies need to be used and the required processes and priorities, primes an organization for the differentiated capabilities that separate the high performance businesses from the rest.

Accenture believes that for many organizations navigating the stormy seas of a turbulent economy there is hidden treasure to be salvaged in the form of effective information management. So how can executives steer their information assets to sail toward new opportunities, reduce costs and achieve high performance?

Economic Volatility: Surviving the Sea Change
In a challenging economy, managing information is vital. A comprehensive information strategy can lead to new opportunities, reduced costs and high performance.