Ten years ago, organizations were focusing their attention – and resources – on one important thing: Y2K. Workers around the world pored over legacy systems that were written decades before by programmers who were long retired or deceased. Leaders didn’t really know what would happen when the date changed at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999 – but they knew that the world would either be exactly the same or entirely different.
And now, a decade later, organizations are facing the exact opposite dilemma: the entire world has changed, and they must focus their attention – and resources – on transforming their organizations so that they can continue to generate value, be relevant to customers (or constituents) and meet the strategic goals of their stakeholders. As with Y2K, the path to success is found within their own IT systems and data.
For example, the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue was able to analyze their own data to uncover about PHP 70 billion (US$1.4 billion) in under-declarations and to collect PHP 6 billion (US$114 million) in the first year alone. Not only did they realize a 400 percent return on investment, their CIO and Deputy Commissioner stated that they “revolutionized [the Philippines] tax system.” And in Sweden, public administrators of its universal healthcare are using analytics to transform the way they work with a number of stakeholders, including providers, politicians and officials, healthcare and social service payers, and – most importantly – patients.
I’ve seen many, many success stories like these, around the globe and across industry sectors. Organizations are moving from a time of standardization and automation (and the systems to support that) – to a time of innovation and optimization (and the systems that support that). As we move toward 2010 – or Y2.01K – I believe that we will continue to see this trend.
In the final analysis, the leaders in 1999 and 2009 have one important thing in common: to succeed, organizations must continuously transform themselves to deliver value, maintain relevance, and meet/exceed shareholder expectations.
Mikael Hagström, Executive Vice President, EMEA and Asia Pacific, SAS