Technology is a tool to support business, and like any tool, it must be used
correctly to get the desired results.
“Businesses see technology as some sort
of panacea to solve their problems, but it
won’t,” says Michael J. Savoie, Ph.D., director of the Center for Information Technology & Management, The School of
Management, The University of Texas at
Dallas. “You can’t buy a hammer, place it
on a job site and expect it to build a house.
Someone has to know how to use the hammer to build the home.
“CEOs frequently lament that if they had
better technology, they’d be a better company,” he continues. “But the realities are
that 1) people program computers, and 2)
you have to know what you want to
accomplish before you identify the right
technologies to help you get there.”
Smart Business spoke with Savoie to
learn how companies that properly integrate technology into their business can
gain a competitive advantage.
What are the four levels of information systems?
An information system is any system that
is used to organize data, which is then disseminated to the appropriate people within an organization. Data is everything —
anything you can see, touch, feel — tangible or intangible. The information system is
anything that moves data from one point to
another with common reference points.
Data and information are the first two
levels of an information system. The second two levels are knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge meaning the information the
system collects that is actually used, and
wisdom meaning knowing how and when
to use the information. Most organizations
operate within the first two levels but really need the second two to succeed.
How can companies move from collecting data
and information to actually using it effectively?
Five factors must be present. You have
to have the right data, in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, in
the right format.
The right data involves having the right
team determine what information the
system needs in the first place in order
to help you run your business effectively. The right place means your people
can access the information wherever
they are, especially while in the field
making decisions. The right time means
you want real-time data on operations of
your business on a daily basis so you can
make decisions for the company today,
tomorrow, this week. The right people
means that those who need the information receive it — and those who don’t,
don’t. This is also a security issue — you
need to ensure that only the people who
are supposed to be seeing the information are indeed the only ones who have
access to it. The right format means that
the information is organized in a way
that is easy to extract knowledge from,
rather than, for example, pages of numbers where knowledge is buried like a
needle in a haystack.
What can companies do to improve?
Identify the underlying needs you are
trying to meet — waves versus trends.
Understand how these needs interact.
Look for solutions that meet these
needs. Look for technology that supports these solutions. To do this, assemble a working group of people who will
address the company’s technology needs
on a continual basis. The team should be
cross-functional, representing the vertical and horizontal layers of the company.
Teams should move through a ‘process
ladder’ consisting of the following steps:
Identify the business’ processes — current and desired; analyze needs and
identify the gaps; implement a strategy
to address the needs and gaps; identify
applications that support the strategy;
identify hardware necessary to support
the applications.
Before investing in any software or
hardware, work the steps. Map out the
flow of information in your organization.
Then take the map and determine what
you want to build, deciding on formats
based on what you need. This helps you
define what software to buy. Then —
and only then — decide on the hardware. Do not let hardware dictate. Don’t
buy a system and then try to force fit
your company to it.
Finally, appoint someone in the organization responsible for ensuring that the
business processes of the company are
integrated with the technology, and that
the business processes — not the technology — are driving the decisions. In
some companies, this is the CEO, the
CIO, or the CFO.
MICHAEL J. SAVOIE, Ph.D., is director of the Center for
Information Technology & Management, The School of
Management, The University of Texas at Dallas. Reach him at
(972) 883-4755 or [email protected].
