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Information versus Technology and CBT Working Group Workshop - 18 September 2007 - Regent's College, London

Around 35 people attended this meeting which was started by Chris Potts speaking on Information versus Technology - The role of Data Management in a value-driven strategy for IT. This presentation was followed by the DAMA UK Annual General Meeting. The afternoon session was led by the Communication between Business and Technology Working Group and took the form of a workshop. The presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

Chris Potts – The Role of Data Management in a Value-Driven Strategy for IT 

Chris Potts is a Director of Dominic Barrow and an acknowledged world leading expert in value-driven strategies for exploiting IT.  He provided a highly stimulating and thought provoking presentation on how to derive greater value from IT investments and the value that the Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides to today’s organisation.  Chris believes that, in business today, the IT strategy is meaningless and what is needed is a business strategy that encompasses the information needs of the organisation.  This can drive the hardware/software technology acquisition to support the business’s information requirements.  “All board members are the information owners and those CIOs that have recognised this have started the process of morphing into the new role of VP Investment and Change to drive out the value of implementing new IT,” said Potts.

It is recognised that most IT projects go through a number of phases during their acquisition, implementation and exploitation.  However, it is very rare that an organisation will manage a continual exploitation of the product.  Exploitation of the data and information generated has to be planned and work throughout the life of the implemented product so that the organisation can extract maximum benefit from the investment. Therefore, Chris concludes that the Business and Information strategy must be the driver and the IT requirements defined by that strategy as there is no value in developing an IT strategy if the business is not providing the appropriate leadership.

The working group looking at possible tips or tools to help improve Communication between Business and IT ran the afternoon presenting three sessions under the headings of Organisation, People and Technology

The Organisation session by Nigel Turner from BT detailed how corporate structures may successfully be used to bring proper focus and resource to understanding and correcting data issues where the business case is justified.

Paul Mead facilitated a workshop to demonstrate and try out a technique to assist with managing challenging relationships for the People session which was somewhat different from the usual sessions in that everyone participated in an exercise.

Technology was covered by Keith Hawker with a very interesting introduction to the possibilities opened up via the Semantic Web and how this may change the landscape for Data Management professionals.

The sessions were well received and our thanks are offered to all three speakers for sharing their expertise.

Information versus Technology - The role of Data Management in a value-driven strategy for IT - Chris Potts, Director, Dominic Barrow

Data Quality - Making the Business Case - Nigel Turner, BT

Perpetual Positions - Managing Difficult Relationships - Paul Mead

Introduction to Semantic Technology - Keith Hawker