The value and cost of information

In the past year I have noticed an increasing awareness and need within organisations of all types for accurately and up to date information. In meeting after meeting with clients information has been discussed as a major issue for their organisation. These conversations are fascinating but what characterises most of them is a lack of knowledge as to where to start or the inability to build a business case. The business case for improved information management capabilities in an organisation is really easy to see but difficult to quantify in many cases. I advise clients to think of two things: 1) How much is the information in their organisation worth - most organisations haven't considered this but when they do usually agree that it is a very large number. I personally like the approach that asks executives to consider how much their organisation would be worth if it were sold without any information. Most agree that this would only be a fraction of the price of the organisation with information. 2) Consider how much it is costing them to maintain their data today. Again most organisations don't have a good handle on this but know it is a lot. When all costs are considered, both in IT and the business the number becomes very big. Building a business case around these two concepts is sure to grab executive attention.