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Survey: Information Management a Priority for CIOs, But Elusive

In a new Accenture survey, CIOs say they are working to improve their strategic use of integrated business data for competitive advantage.

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By Katherine Walsh

July 11, 2007 — CIO — An enterprisewide information management strategy will be top of mind for CIOs looking to gain a competitive edge for their companies in years to come, according to a new Accenture survey of 162 CIOs.

The study found that:

60 percent of CIOs surveyed say they are working to adopt an information management strategy to gain competitive advantage.
75 percent of CIOs surveyed expect to have an information management strategy in place within three years. Data analytics will be an area of particular focus.
Integrating all types of data is a goal for most companies. While only 38 percent of respondents say they are partially integrated now, 75 percent list integration as their target.

Finding a way to integrate diverse information from many different repositories will be essential for CIOs looking to reap the benefits of highly managed information.

Accenture surveyed 162 CIOs in North America and Europe about IT investments, focusing specifically on information management strategies and technologies. Greg Todd, executive director of information management and business development at Accenture, said the survey conducted earlier in 2007 looked at how companies manage the core technology strategy areas typically associated with information management: business intelligence, data management and data architecture, enterprise management content and portals.

The report and survey released July 11, titled “Cultivating High Performance Through Information Management,” found that 75 percent of CIOs say they intend to have a solid information management strategy in place within the next three years. That expressed intention doesn’t mean respondents are ready to go just yet: 78 percent say their data analytics capabilities are not integrated with the data or with ways to report and analyze that data across their organizations.

Todd said the findings are a clear indication that information management will be a top priority for CIOs in the coming years.

Accenture found that the biggest driver behind an integrated approach to accessing and analyzing data is competitive differentiation. “Bringing information together in this way improves access to high-quality information for decision making, enables revenue enhancement opportunities and reduces costs,” says Todd. It can also help companies with their strategies for entering new markets, breeding innovation and better serving customers. More than half of respondents claim this as their reason for implementing an information management strategy.

Accenture has identified business analytics as a key IT strategy in the past. In a study published last year, which examined the role of enterprise systems in driving corporate value, Accenture found that high-performing businesses were five times more likely than low performers to list analytics as a key element of their strategy. Two-thirds of those high performers said they had significant analytical capabilities, compared to fewer than a quarter of low performers. Another 53 percent said they believed they were gaining a competitive advantage through capabilities associated with analytics.