Over the past few decades, radical advances in computing power and storage have enabled firms to accumulate greater amounts of data than previous thought possible. These leaps in speed and storage have created as many challenges as improvements, leaving managers overwhelmed by different potential sources of information, conflicting formats, and complicated modes of data entry and access. Can firms leverage their information to improve management decision making, increase productivity and improve the bottom line?
Recently, powerful information management solutions have begun to catch up with advances in computing power. Leading-edge firms are addressing the problem of converting distributed information into actionable knowledge that managers can use more effectively than ever before. In particular, these solutions are designed to support managers' own decision-making tools and to help standardize aspects of their decision domains, thus enabling manages to scale and take on greater challenges.
Several key concepts have emerged as essential parts of these information solutions; stakeholder communication, operational transparency, and resource sharing and integration.
Stakeholder communication refers to the ability of all stakeholders - from the individuals who enter the data to the managers who employ the data - to share and analyze information quickly and easily. One of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world, and the largest of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the U.S. Open relies heavily on the AwareManager to ensure the efficient management of all event-related activities. With more than 600,000 spectators, event personnel, players, thousands of truck deliveries, packages, vendors, and numerous security considerations, the complexity of the information management task is enormous. In this context, effective stakeholder communication means that all members of the U.S. Open team, including operations, medical, police, fire and life safety personnel, can both enter data (which is instantly communicated to the event's command center) and receive instructions from the command center, supporting timely, informed decision-making and swift action on emergent issues.
Operational transparency refers to making the flow of information and the current status of the operation accessible for review in real time. Until recently, a property owner relied upon a few periodic reports from management to make an assessment of not only how the property is running but what it is actually worth. Further, managers relied upon bits and pieces of information from various separate sources to make decisions about vendors working in the property, the satisfaction of the tenants, and the condition of the property itself. Information solutions can now be structured so owners and managers can make direct assessments of property operations without expending large amounts of time and resources to gather and collate information. This powerful concept yields a distinct competitive advantage to managers and owners; the true operational status and actual value of a property can be assessed in real time.
Providing a comprehensive framework within which all this information can reside is the third essential component. The AwareManager brings together all of the information related to property and facilities operations in one powerful and easy to use solution. It enables the stakeholders to share resources and integrate date into their decision making process. At Children's Hospital Boston, multiple departments in the same facility make use of this wide-ranging information management solution, including engineering, operations, security, life safety, project management and executive management. The siloing of information in separate systems - which makes valuable analysis difficult if not impossible - is eliminated, and a consistent data structure and user interface is used across the enterprise. This provides Children's personnel with crucial information for decisions that regard the entirety of this world-famous health care institution.

Implementing solutions that incorporate stakeholder communication and operational transparency in a comprehensive framework is the specialty of Database International Group, an industry leader in this emerging area. We welcome the opportunity to introduce our solutions to you.
Kirsten Furman is director of business development at Database International Group, Inc. Boston, Mass.