Blogger: Lyn Robison
My colleague Jack Santos wrote in a blog post today, “Lyn Robison (from our Data Management group) loves to rant about how business people put up with bad information from their IT departments. No doubt. The sad thing is businesses want more.” I think Jack’s observation is true that businesspeople always seem to ask for more information even though its quality is shoddy, but I also think that this situation won’t last forever.
During the 60’s and 70’s, the American auto industry assumed that American consumers would always ask for more cars, even though the quality was shoddy. That observation was true, but it did not last forever. Quality didn’t matter, until suddenly it did.
As soon as someone (the Japanese automakers in this case) demonstrated to American consumers that they no longer had to settle for shoddy vehicle quality, vehicle quality became paramount. Likewise, as soon as a few IT shops demonstrate to businesspeople that they no longer have to settle for shoddy information quality, information quality will become paramount. IOW, if word gets out that the information coming from IT systems need not be garbage, look out. Businesspeople will demand high quality information from IT systems all of the time. And those IT people who cannot deliver it will find themselves in the same situation as the American automakers.
Those IT shops that do not want to end up looking like Detroit (see my "A Crystal Ball shows the Future of IT, and it is … Detroit?!" blog post for background on this) will adopt the approach of the Japanese automakers and start focusing on information quality today. These visionary IT shops will put themselves ahead of the curve and will find their prospects for the future bright and secure.
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