I don’t know where you are with regards to the “how fast will the economic recovery happen” debate, but myself, and a growing number of economic analysts, are not particularly optimistic. I’m expecting slow and moderate growth for the first half of 2010, with a few more bumps in the road throughout the year. The problem is that many American businesses are reaching the point where “slow and moderate” just isn’t good enough. I think there is a missing piece, one unanswered question. Is there a way to survive and thrive even during a very slow recovery?
Consider a recent study by the Aberdeen Group that looked at organizations who were considered “best in class” from the perspective that they fully leveraged their corporate information as a strategic asset, some people call this Business Intelligence (B.I.) Maturity. The study confirmed a direct correlation between the level of B.I. maturity and the ability for an organization to perform well, even during an economic downturn. Consider 
figure 1 (click here if you do not see the image below of to the left) from the Aberdeen report (as reprinted in a recent issue of KM World).
As you can see, the best in class, top 20%, experienced double digit growth in operating profit and high levels of customer retention. Compare this to the laggards who experienced double digit declines in operating profit and much lower customer retention.
To survive and win in 2010 you are going to have to find new and creative ways to leverage one of your greatest corporate assets … your information. If you aren’t 100% sure that your organization is among the best-in-class, we should talk. I have a short presentation to guide our discussion, and you can preview a few of the slides here (low res for easy download).
Shaun N. Williams
The Operari Group
(866) 219-9224 Ext. 302 ofc
(210) 326-6146 mbl
