Mobile to make SA 'IQ' leader

SA could become a global leader in data quality through the use of mobile computing, said John Talburt, professor of information science at the University of Arkansas, in Little Rock, in the US.

Speaking at the Enhancing Strategic Information (ESI) data quality conference, in Johannesburg, this week, Talburt said SA has a real chance to emerge as an international leader in ESI.

He explained that data or information quality (IQ) is about value. “It's a body of knowledge and practice about maximising the value of the organisation's information assets.”

“Several years ago, we thought we were entering the information age, but that was actually the technology age and only now are we really seeing the information age.”

Talburt said the journey to this information age was difficult, since businesses in the 1990s attempted data warehousing, which was inconsistent, inaccurate, incomplete and poorly organised. “It took many years just to establish data quality dimensions so we could have a way to measure it.”

It took more than 10 years from the invention of data warehousing to reach a point where less than 50% of projects failed. Talburt said this did not happen until IQ.

Also, software vendors were slow to develop and offer tools for data quality.

However, Talburt said SA has an advantage because it can bypass this difficult journey.

“SA can become a global ESI leader by following three principles.” The first is to take advantage of the 20 years already invested in learning what IQ is about. “So don't go and reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of the lessons learned and exploit the IQ resources available now that were not there 10 or even five years ago.”

George Ambler, advisory board chairman and executive partner at Gartner Africa, said late adoption is an advantage for Africa since it does not have to be concerned with the learning curve that the western world had to go through.

However, Bradley Coward, group CIO of Sappi, added that although the right technology is in place, after leapfrogging the learning curve, it's the skills shortage and change management that need to be addressed.

Secondly, SA shouldn't wait for Internet connectivity, but should go directly to mobile computing with a cloud computing backbone, according to Talburt. “Memory and processors are commodities - information is the competitive advantage.”

He added that everything that can go mobile will go mobile. “More people have cellphones than have Internet access and mobile interfaces to cloud (network) computing resources are a powerful combination.”

Talburt said this is especially so in an information economy where IQ is the equivalent of “lean manufacturing” for information products.

Thirdly, SA must get on board with ISO-8000 standards. “Many organisations have not done the basics of setting the requirements for data quality.”

Also, there is an international association for information and data quality, but Talburt encourages the creation of a regional IQ community in SA to push the move towards being a global leader.

He said one of the questions facing IQ today is how to get information integrated because producers of data are widely spread.

Talburt added that the next step needs to be independent organisations collaborating and integrating information, for example in the health sector where all a patient's details can be accessed in one place. “There needs to be data interoperability. The idea of information exchange is very important in law enforcement, health and education.”

Government IT Officers Council chairman Julius Segole says integrating government systems in aid of data sharing is one of the council's prioritised goals for improved service delivery.