Information

by John Gallaugher

Chapter 11 The Asset: , , and Competitive Advantage

©2010 Flat World , Inc.

The Economy

• Information is the most important asset of most modern corporations. • Companies who can gather, analyze, and act upon information most Patents, trademarks, effectively will sustain and brands competitive advantages. are important information assets. Information Systems

Information Competitive Systems Advantage

• In many industries, the right information systems are critical for creating and sustaining competitive advantages. Drowning in Data

• The transformation of data into knowledge is key. Knowledge

Zara Example • Data about specific purchases Information is collected at the cash register. • Daily informational reports about sales activity are sent to The Cube (Corporate Headquarters). Data • Reports are analyzed, trends are identified, and BUSINESS DECISIONS ARE MADE. What is a ?

• Databases are used to efficiently store and manage large amounts of data. • Databases are everywhere, driving many familiar functions. Database Examples

• Many familiar examples: – iTunes – tools – store inventory systems – Google Databases sort through large amounts of data and deliver just the information you wanted! Database Basics

• Database tables store information and resemble Excel worksheets. • Tables consist of: – fields (columns) – records (rows) • Tables are connected (or related) through keys. Data Logic and Integrity

• Database field attributes allow a designer to specify the type of information contained in a field.

The database of a Web store can require that the credit card number field be a 16 digit numeric required field—without 16 digits, a credit card number is of little value! Queries

• Queries ask questions of a database and are used to pull records that meet certain criteria. Queries written in SQL: “SELECT [NAME] FROM Records WHERE [Name]=Smith…”

Searching on Switchboard.com queries a large phone record database, locating just the person you’re looking for. Where Does Data Come From?

• Companies have more and more data from a growing number of sources: – transaction data – customer data – survey – government data – commercial sources Public Records

Zillow.com uses deed records to estimate the value of nearly every home in America.

• Look up people you know and see what Intelius.com knows about them! Data Marts

• Lots of data are in old legacy systems. • For companies to take advantage of data, information needs to be accessible.

Data and data marts unite information from across an organization. Business Intelligence

• Business intelligence systems use data created by other systems to provide reporting and analysis for organizational decision making.

The ability to pull data from across an organization and make decisions is key to business success. Wal-Mart’s Information

• Within 15 seconds of a purchase, customer purchase data is sent to Wal-Mart’s data center. • Wal-Mart uses this data to track sales, replenish inventory, and communicate with over 100,000 vendors. Wal-Mart’s system is so sophisticated that they’ve identified the fact that people buy strawberry Pop-Tarts when a hurricane is approaching. In addition, their inventory system is so agile that they can deliver more Pop-Tarts to the store before the hits! Key Terms

• business • data intelligence • • database • legacy system • • • query • artificial • field intelligence • record