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‘Information lag’ hits 9 out of 10 companies - report published on 25 April 2008

Businesses are being hampered by the poor flow of information, reckons research by Progress Software. The study - which surveyed CIOs and IT managers across 500 European businesses - shows that most respondents are not receiving business-critical data in real time or in the right format.

The research shows strong indicators of a struggle within enterprises to access, manipulate and interpret business critical information. The research also suggests that businesses are adopting SOA to improve the flow of information and provide them with more flexible IT infrastructure. Key findings of the survey are:

   Businesses have very complex and information-driven environments with great demands - 75 per cent of business managers need to access information from at least 11 regions.

   Demand for comprehensive, accurate and current business information is out-stripping supply by some distance - 88 per cent needing improved information flow up and down the supply chain.

   Current performance is not satisfying the business’ need for better, faster information - only 50 per cent of respondents have access to real-time information.

   Steps are being taken to take control of the distributed, multi-vendor, proprietary environment and begin the process of delivering to the business – 58 per cent now have an SOX strategy in place.

   Managers have to look at three to four different sources for the critical business information they need.

   Only 38 per cent get the critical business information when they need it – and typically have to wait a week.

   Where critical business services are outsourced, 39 per cent say visibility of performance is not in a timescale that suits them.

Businesses are suffering from an information gap that is slowing down their ability to act on information that could help them to drive business change, says Giles Nelson, director of technology, EMEA at Progress Software. "Most organisations don’t have optimum visibility of their customers, or even of their own business, as a result they are missing out on growth opportunities because they can’t respond fast enough to market conditions or have the speed to adapt to new regulations,” Nelson adds.

The survey questioned 250 CIOs and IT directors and 250 business department heads across Europe, covering a number of sectors in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland.

    

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