Information democracy, technology and regulatory changes are altering the way decisions are made, says Harvey Jones Systems MD Keith Jones.
Speaking at the recent BMI-TechKnowledge African Banking Forum in Midrand, Jones defined information democracy as the availability of information to the mass market.
"In the past, a few managers had access to information and they used to make decisions in a very hierarchical structure," he said.
"Now more people are going to have access to more information and going to be able to make decisions at a more operational, low level in the business."
Information is being seen as a corporate asset and more information is available than ever before.
At the same time, regulatory changes are forcing transparency and breaking down information silos, he adds.
IT is living up to its promise in that data can now be trusted; solutions can scale; user interfaces are becoming accessible and intuitive; information is accessible anywhere, in any format, anytime; and there are "fewer versions of the truth".
Regulatory changes require reporting to be done on time in an accepted and structured format and the "whoops, we didn`t comply" culture is disappearing.
Jones says it is being replaced by a culture characterised by the statement: "Yes, we do comply now, but how will the new product or initiative affect this compliance and risk going forward?"
IT`s role
[VIDEO]He says technology`s role in the decision-making process is to make information more available so that decisions can be made.
Many companies see automation as the key goal, but automation is only the first step in the process, Jones says.
"It is an important step, but it doesn`t deliver the most benefits. Most of the benefits come from creating a culture of collaboration, best-practice sharing and the co-ordination of allocating the resources.
"Most companies see automation as a goal, and it`s actually the first step down the road. The most important issues are the people issues at the end of the day.
"So the technology is an enabler, but it`s not actually going to be the catalyst for change. The people are going to be the catalyst for change."
Jones says the future will see more scenario-based decision-making with "live" models, management by exception (key performance indicator monitoring), data visualisation, collaboration and best practice decision, industry and operational benchmarking, information and sharing. This will also mean fewer reports.
Share
