CHAPTER ONE

The Wondrous and Perilous Properties of Data and Information in Organizations

Savvy managers recognize that data and information are strategic assets, possibly even the “ultimate proprietary technology,” in Nicholas Carr’s terms.1 After all, they are the only asset that is uniquely your own. No other organization has, or can have, the same data that your organization has. Your data reflect your strategies, customers, products, employees—everything that matters in your organization. Competitors can copy your processes, buy the same equipment you do, steal your customers, and entice your employees with better offers. But unless you let them, they can’t have your data and information.

Further, data and information have properties and ...

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