Intelligence is essential.

Many books, analysts, and experts have declared that the business world is moving from the Information Age to the Age of Intelligence. In other words, the focus is shifting to how the information is used.

There have been numerous stories--many making the headlines--of organizations that have clearly amassed the information but have not fully analyzed it or shared it with others who could do the most with it. The amount of competitive intelligence that lies untapped in organizations' systems today would probably stagger many of us.

Eventually it comes back to what information--knowledge--is being retained, how it is being stored, and how easy it is to access it. More importantly, how easy is it to access it in a meaningful way? The answer affects an organization's research and development efforts, time to market, strategy management process, compliance status, and the list goes on.

In the Age of Intelligence, though, it's an issue of context as opposed to quantity and process.

"Engineering an effective information space and turning information into intelligence has become the most critical management tool of cutting-edge business leaders today," says author Lee S. Strickland. When it doesn't happen, the consequences can be disastrous. What better illustration than 9/11? In the article "The Information Shortcomings of 9/11," Strickland analyzes the U.S. government's lack of information coordination and intelligence analysis. He refers to the much-publicized report of the 9/11 Commission, which suggests the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, might have been prevented if loose bits of information possessed by the government prior to that date had been connected and analyzed and become actionable intelligence. Such foresight is essential for governments and other organizations worldwide.

One important place for organizations to begin is their Web sites. In "Web Sites as Recordkeeping and 'Recordmaking' Systems," Rick Barry examines the increasing recognition of Web site content as a source of organizational and governmental records. Unlike paper records or even stored electronic records, Web site content is dynamic and changing. That means the recordkeeping requirements it demands are more challenging and, in many cases, must be created on the fly.

According to Barry: "So long as this technology is used for business, customer-facing, and public-facing purposes, the content and transactions on such sites constitute organizational records and therefore must be captured, preserved, and managed into paper-based or electronic records systems ... For most organizations, this means that integration of Web content and electronic records management is essential." This requires much more than just the technical information about how to integrate these systems; it also requires the intelligence to do it properly and cost-effectively.

Some local governments have found that working together on records projects, sharing their intelligence and saving money, too. In "Why Records Cooperatives?" Julian L. Mims, Ph.D., CRM, CA, examines how these cooperatives work and their strengths and weaknesses. He explains that modern cooperatives include records training, storage/retention/ retrieval, destruction, consulting, imaging, computer networking, and intelligent forms applications. To succeed, Mims says, they require vision, initiative, foresight, and ingenuity--intelligence.

So how does your organization measure up? Is it aware of the treasure that is resident in the information it has collected and stored? More importantly, is it analyzing and using it effectively? The right information is worth its weight in gold to an organization; but the right intelligence--the knowledge and analysis that will allow a business to get ahead of the competition and possibly the marketplace--is invaluable.