The Baldrige Criteria devote one Item to how you manage information, knowledge, and information technology. The goal is to make data and information accurate, reliable, timely, secure, confidential, and available to the people who need it, when they need it.

In “How Do You Speed Up Information Delivery?” (HBR, May 26, 2010), Tom Davenport addresses the need for speed in information delivery. He identifies several technical advances that are accelerating this including: (1) storing information in memory rather than on a hard drive for faster retrieval and manipulation; (2) using new forms of databases for faster data retrieval and analysis; and, (3) faster hardware and easier-to-use software the make data analysis easier.

This, he notes, “is the relatively easy part.” Process, behavior, and management change are tougher. The first step is to identify what information really needs to be delivered more quickly. Not all information is critical. Prioritizing will help focus resources on the greatest need.

Davenport points out that managers want information when they want it, which is not necessarily when they get it. For that reason, it’s often better to make information available for online access (pull) rather than issuing reports (push).

The next step is to have executives work with analysts “to identify what information is most needed quickly, and then to create alerts, query and reporting formats, and analyses that truly inform decisions.”

The final step, according to Davenport, is to make decisions faster. This is the whole reason to speed up information delivery in the first place: To make better, more informed, and faster decisions. He suggests measuring and managing the cycle time of key decisions.

To read more about information management, click on these articles:

• Communicating Performance on Key Measures
• Which Side of the Digital Divide Is Your Organization On?
• Get the Information You Need
• 10 Critical Questions: Data, Information & Knowledge
• Sophisticated Information Sharing

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