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Information Gap
One of the findings in Accenture's recent CIO Investment Survey is that IT executives are acutely aware of organizational limitations in data use, data quality and the identification of data value. This is manifested in a significant gap between current and target benchmarks for information use. Though BI software companies have done well relative to the general software sector, most investments have been used to address tactical issues like rollups of financials following M&A activity, according to Bob Suh, chief technology strategist at Accenture. "Most of the money has been going to keep the business running and less has gone to getting knowledge workers the information they need."Accenture found separately that many enterprises are content to wring the last value out of Y2K-era enterprise resource planning systems rather than sink cost and move on to more functionally rich Internet-based applications. If so, they may be taking a pass on integration opportunities enabled by the most recent generation of ERP-based solutions. CIOs recognize shorter payoff periods for new ERP investments and rate management decision-making and employee productivity as the greatest benefits. "It's sort of like you paid too much for a car you continue to drive even though you know there's a better car out there with better mileage," says Suh. "Accountants will depreciate IT in a straight line but if your competitor comes up with some new system, your investment is obsolesced almost instantly."
