Skilled information managers can speed value creation through information agility, data access, process improvement, efficiency and performance. IT departments deliver value through all these practices, but when IT is backlogged or there's a delay to delivery, business users are increasingly frustrated when they can't get what they need. In this issue, George Shen proposes that cloud computing can assume the responsibilities of infrastructure, IT support, data and services so organizations reduce dependence on internal resources and focus on core business functions. By doing so, cloud drives the self-service BI movement, creating value for IT (less drain on resources) and business users (easier access to the needed information and analysis).
But where do we find value in vast quantities of data, whether in the cloud or on premise? Big data is the one of the latest buzzwords, but not everyone is sure what it means and how we deal with it. Shawn Rogers explains how big data extends typical data management processes and technologies, with a framework that is changing analytics and BI forever. By way of example, he provides a primer of the Hadoop stack and examples of how big data is managed at Yahoo and eBay.
Products and services can help businesses create value over time and one way of judging vendors is by their financial performance. In this issue we're happy to bring you our annual IM50 list of the biggest vendors by ranking and their performance over the last year. Check out this year's list of top information management companies.
Knowledge workers and all employees need to create value as individuals, teams and departments. They also need to get through their day productively in order to contribute to business performance. But we know information workers are often overwhelmed, and that information overload costs billions of dollars in lost focus and productivity each year. Jonathan Spira explains just how enormous this problem is and offers advice on how to stay on track to extracting greater value with less.
I hope you find this issue valuable and enjoyable.
Julie Langenkamp is editor-in-chief of Information Management. She can be reached at julie.langenkamp@sourcemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JulieLangenkamp.
