any. The corporation put its information resources in all the usual places -- filing cabinets, human heads, databases, bookshelves, PC hard drives and IT departments. The people who opened the Atlanta plant replicated some of this stuff, creating new resources in the process. Their IT department created some things, but so did HR and R&D and Marketing and Manufacturing and Distribution. The company decided to open quarters in Berlin and Tokyo. Some gifted people developed deep expertise in obscure but important things. Their knowledge-seeking paid off, and their value increased. They lacked enthusiasm for sharing this expertise with just anyone.In all probability, this is not an exaggerated picture. If anything, it may be understated. So how do we make the jump from globally-disbursed resources, where no one in the oranization really knows where anything is, with any certainty, to something more unified and find-able. Or do we? Are some black arts required, or is this something humanly do-able?I [never met] the senior manager who knew what information was available for decisions. Very few senior executives have asked the question, "What information do I need to do my job?" In part because they've all been brought up with the accounting information that they understand. But the other type of information system, they don't understand."Peter F. DruckerA Meeting of the MindsCIO Magazine, Sept. 15, 1997A recent study says that the average employee spends 7-10 hours per month tracking down information that is already known by someone or something somewhere within the organization. It could be more than 7 - 10 hours, or it could be less. As few as ten employees could be wasting 70 to 100 person-hours a month chasing information. What a crushing waste! And they told us the computer would save us time. Remember that promise? Where is the time this technology has saved for us?"The information's unavailable to the mortal manWe're workin' our jobs,...
