Frank Ryan writes:
The quote below is part of the introduction to a recently published book
entitled \”Mastering Information Management\” from the Financial Times. It is
a great opening to a \”milestone\” book …
Putting the I in IT by Thomas H. Davenport
\”Imagine a world obsessed with plumbing. In this bizarre place, hundreds of
magazines and books, and even a few television channels, cover the plumbing
industry, celebrating the latest advances in valves, fixtures and pipes.
Cocktail party conversation is dominated by the issue of whether one brand
of sink drains faster than another. Plumbing equipment magnates are on the
cover of business and even general interest publications, and become the
world\’s richest citizens. Companies pay millions, billions, trillions to
connect all their plumbing devices and to ensure that pipes reach every
desktop, every home office, even every car.
\”
Frank Ryan writes:
The quote below is part of the introduction to a recently published book
entitled \”Mastering Information Management\” from the Financial Times. It is
a great opening to a \”milestone\” book …
Putting the I in IT by Thomas H. Davenport
\”Imagine a world obsessed with plumbing. In this bizarre place, hundreds of
magazines and books, and even a few television channels, cover the plumbing
industry, celebrating the latest advances in valves, fixtures and pipes.
Cocktail party conversation is dominated by the issue of whether one brand
of sink drains faster than another. Plumbing equipment magnates are on the
cover of business and even general interest publications, and become the
world\’s richest citizens. Companies pay millions, billions, trillions to
connect all their plumbing devices and to ensure that pipes reach every
desktop, every home office, even every car.
\”
Only one plumbing-related issue is overlooked in this strange world – water.
Is it clean and fresh? Is water even what consumers want to drink? Are they
thirsty?
Oddly enough, a similar situation prevails in our own world. We need only
substitute computers for plumbing fixtures and networks for pipes. Just as
plumbing technology overshadows water in our imaginary environment,
information technology (IT) outshines information itself in the real world.
But although good water can easily be obtained from a clear mountain stream,
good information is rarely synonymous with advanced IT. It is time that we
focused on the \”I\” rather than the \”T\” in the world of business IT.
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