Information Revolution
The information revolution. 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 understand and act in and upon the information-rich world in which we now operate. To accomplish this goal, the information management structure must move from a support function and become the essential foundation of corporate performance.
A road map for business survival
A new book, Information Revolution: Using the
Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business (John Wiley & Sons; December 2005; $29.95), enables any organization, no matter how underdeveloped or convoluted its current information architecture, to become an information-driven "intelligent entity." It was written by three expert authors from SAS, Gloria J. Miller, Jim Davis and Allan Russell.
Continuous innovation is necessary for business survival, and this text provides a practical road map for growth and evolution through the Information Evolution Model (IEM) -- a simple but powerful framework for evaluating, configuring and maximizing the information management infrastructure of any organization.
The Information Evolution Model
SAS first introduced the Information Evolution Model (IEM) in 2003, and since then, the volume of information available to organizations has grown to mammoth proportions.
Management of information has become more important as intelligent, forward-thinking executives realize they need "a mental software upgrade -- a better way of looking at, understanding, and then acting in and on the information-rich world in which we now operate," says Thornton May in the book's foreword.
The IEM identifies five levels of information management maturity:
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Operational: Individual data "ownership" and control is applied to tackle day-to-day functional issues.
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Consolidation: Individual-level perspective is replaced by departmental or functional-level standards, metrics, and perspective on all dimensions.
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Integration: Expands Level 2 consolidation into an enterprisewide view.
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Optimization: The organization understands its markets and adapts constantly to stay optimally aligned with them.
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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.
Where to go from here
Nearly 70 percent of today's companies will discover that they operate at Level 1 or 2. But once an assessment is completed, the model helps managers construct a map to determine where the company needs to be and the fastest, most reliable route to that destination.
Enlightening case studies demonstrating how real companies have used IEM to slash costs, boost productivity, and stay well ahead of the innovation curve complete the book that executives like Bob Schwartz, vice president and CIO for Panasonic Corp., are calling a "must-read."
The authors
Jim Davis is senior vice president and chief marketing officer for SAS. He leads a staff of 900 devising market and product strategy. He is responsible for global messaging and creating awareness of SAS products and services in corporate boardrooms. Davis also guides the direction and strategy for SAS products and solutions. He joined SAS in 1994, working first as a support engineer and then as an enterprise computing specialist focused on IT issues. He served as a 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 to vice president of worldwide marketing before assuming his current role.
Gloria J. Miller heads the international Professional Services Division (PSD) at SAS, is the executive manager for the development of SAS Industry Intelligence Solutions, and is on the board of directors of SAS Global Services (SGS). Throughout her career of more than 17 years in the IT industry, Miller has received accolades for her skills in lifecycle systems development, data modeling, application development, post-production support, database administration, database performance tuning, and end-user training.
Miller holds a master's degree in business administration from Bowie State University in Maryland, and a bachelor's degree from Augusta State University in Georgia.
Allan Russell, senior vice president of strategy with SAS International, directs European software development projects and works closely with development teams in Cary to ensure that SAS software meets and anticipates the needs of SAS' international customers. With more than 25 years experience working for SAS' international head office in Heidelberg, Germany, Russell has accumulated in-depth expertise in every area of SAS software and the technologies it supports. He also has extensive knowledge of the software's business applications from discussions with SAS customers.
Russell is one of the principal authors of the SAS Intelligence Platform, an open and scalable 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.
Russell received a degree in computing science from Glasgow University in 1975.
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