The Weak Information Link
December 14 2001
The survey, conducted by IT market researcher Harte-Hanks, has also unearthed the most critical information issues that the world's leading companies are facing today. These are based on the findings that:
- Nearly 60% of companies find that their current information systems do not have the flexibility to handle change.
- The same level have concerns about the accuracy of their data sources.
- More than 60% have planned data/information integration projects.
The research also assessed planned technology projects for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Data Warehousing, all of which are typical means of managing data and information across enterprises. Over 80% of respondent companies confirmed that they were planning or had already started projects in these areas.
Although the survey indicates that tackling integration in each of these is fraught with difficulties, market studies estimate a combined growth for ERP, CRM and SCM vendors from US$50 billion today to US$96 billion by 2005 (AMR Research).
Chris Worsley, vice president of global marketing at Kalido Ltd, commented 'Frustration equals inefficiency. In the current economic environment, it's more important than ever that companies reap their investment in information management systems in order to get timely, accurate, consistent information, to manage their business effectively.'
The research was conducted through 171 corporate interviews during a six-week period beginning September 2001. The companies included many from the Fortune 1000 and Global 500, all operating in the US, UK and the Netherlands across a range of industry sectors.
All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
