Garbage out.

Three information technology executives, experts from the SAS Institute, bring their combined knowledge to bear on the problems facing those in charge of taking and supporting decisions in their companies.

First off, the authors maintain that the information revolution has just begun. The Internet bubble of the late 1990s certainly busted, but it left behind a technological legacy that has transformed management and the way companies gather, analyze and distribute information, just for a start. They argue that in the coming decade companies will experience greater pressure to observe, compile and understand the enormous volume of information around them, then act on the basis of that understanding. In that way, the structure of information management should transcend its current supporting role to become a basic pillar of corporate development.

The book begins by explaining seven realities that threaten the sur vival of businesses in the globalized world, one characterized by ruthless competition. Among these new realities, they note the advantages and disadvantages of globalization, the shrinking of business cycles and the fact that the rules of the business game have changed.

Capitalism has come to see the world as a giant game of Monopoly in which the fundamental strategy has been reduced to buying all of the properties possible. Mergers and acquisitions have greatly extended the reach of big companies, but also it has added to the difficulty in gaining agility in the face of the demands of new markets.

Consequently, the old rules are still being applied, although not exactly as they were in the past century. "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory," W. Edwards Deming, a management expert, said in the 1980s, a way of expressing how radically the rules of business had changed. Yet if companies decide to survive, according to the authors, they should respond rapidly to fast-moving market demand with better quality products while cutting costs and, in many cases, cutting jobs. They should adapt to the volatility of the moment, a moment defined by increasingly informed consumers.

Continual innovation is necessary not just to prosper but to not perish in the face of competition. In a business climate that punishes inefficiency and slowness--as well as the lack of capacity to transform oneself when circumstances require it--efficient management of information assets has become a vital task. The way in which information is obtained, confirmed, stored, viewed and distributed is fundamental to a company's profitability.

The authors explain how certain factors, among them business processes, corporate culture, business infrastructure and people themselves, can determine if information at hand is used negatively or positively. In this sense, the book proposes and explains a system dubbed the information evolution model, whose function is to help in the transition from being a company limited to information collection to a company that uses information to evolve toward what the authors called an "intelligent enterprise," that is, a company that uses information to recognize with precision what the market demands, and acts.

Evolution. The book details the steps in the information evolution model, with the aim to help executives determine in what phase of the model they now find themselves and to create a plan of action to rise to the next level. Chapter by chapter, the authors explain the keys to innovation, examine efficient management of information technology resources and recount business success stories. The book has plenty of questionnaires to help organize a precise view of the state of a company and practical guides toward evolution and survival, as well as greater success.