The View from the Fast Lane: The Future of Information from the Perspective of Fortune's Fastest Growing Companies.

AT THE CORE

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES:

* new and emerging technologies that are dramatically transforming the world of information

* how e-business has changed the role of information management

* how the focus on customer relationship management and the need to provide personalized sales and services have increased the value of information

The expansion of e-business, e-government, and e-commerce has dramatically increased both the societal importance of information and, thus, the societal importance of sound information management. This article presents a fresh view of the future of information from the perspective of technology and telecommunications companies identified in the 2000 annual Fortune magazine's survey of fastest growing companies. (See sidebar: "Fast-Growing Companies with Information Insight.")

Fast-Growing Companies With Information Insight

This article focuses on the technology and telecommunications companies
identified in "Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies," Fortune, 4
September 2000, 142-158. Thirty-five companies were included under
these two headings (Fortune's other categories are industrial, retail,
health care, financial services, and other). The following companies
provided particularly helpful information and insights.

Company                  Location              Product/service

Advanced Digital         Redmond, WA           Tape data storage
Information
Citrix Systems           Ft. Lauderdale, FL    Software
Comverse Technology      Woodbury, NY          Software for
                                               telecommunications
                                               systems
Dell Computer            Red Rock, TX          Computers
DiamondCluster           Chicago, IL           Technology consulting;
International Inc.                             e-business strategies
FMC Corporation          Hopkinton, MA         Dala storage
                                               and retrieval
i2 Technologies, Inc.    Dallas, TX            Innovative software
MCSi                     Dayton, OH            Integrates audiovisual,
                                               broadcast, and
                                               computer technologies
Mercury Interactive      Sunnyvale, CA         Website analysis,
                                               monitoring, testing
Micrel                   San Jose, CA          Circuits
Network Appliance        Sunnyvale, CA         Data storage
Qualcomm                 San Diego, CA         Cellular phone software
RF Micro Devices         Greensboro, NC        Communications chips
                                               for wireless devices
Sapient                  Cambridge, MA         Internet strategy
                                               consulting

Company                  Web site

Advanced Digital         www.adic.com
Information
Citrix Systems           www.citrix.com
Comverse Technology      www.comverse.com
Dell Computer            www.dell.com
DiamondCluster           www.diamondcluster.com
International Inc.
FMC Corporation          www.emc.com
i2 Technologies, Inc.    www.i2.com
MCSi                     www.mcsinet.com
Mercury Interactive      www.mercury
                         interactive.com
Micrel                   www.micrel.com
Network Appliance        www.netapp.com
Qualcomm                 www.qualcomm.com
RF Micro Devices         www.rfmd.com
Sapient                  www.sapient.com

Inclusion in the Fortune survey is regarded as a mark of distinction and success. Fundamentally, the companies examined for this article are in the "information business"; their work centers on creation, movement, protection, access, and use of information. These dynamic companies are in good positions to predict the future course of the information enterprise because they are shaping and inventing the business future for themselves. Of course, their public predictions are, to some degree, promotional pronouncements designed to appeal to potential customers. That caveat aside, however, these companies merit the attention of information professionals because their insights can help information professionals plan for their future.

Accent on Information-in-Action

A sense of almost breathless exuberance surrounds many of these companies -- their Web sites and reports are replete with news of new mergers, new products, and record earnings and stock values. They are geared to the robust world that moves on 24/7 "Internet time," develop new product lines to move information faster, strive for ways to enhance use, and are obsessed with information to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Some of the companies have distilled their essential messages to attention-grabbing slogans (some copyrighted or trademarked), themes, and images that convey: (1) Information is essential to the success of modern institutions; (2) Approaches need to be aggressive and dynamic to succeed; and (3) New strategies and partnerships are the order of the day. Examples include: "We Build Killer Apps" (DiamondCluster International, Inc., formerly Diamond Technology Partners); "What'll We Think of Next?" (Anuran Microwave); "Sell Ahead of the Curve" (Dendrite International); "Talent, Technology, and Innovation" (R.E Micro Devices); "High Tech/Low Cost/Smart Business" (Insight Enterprises); "More Memory/More Possibilities" (Scandisk); and "Build an E-business Without Limits by Bringing More Information to Life" (EMC).

Astounding Growth in Information Volume

Many of the companies in the survey report dramatic and continuing growth in the sheer amount of information available. In Advanced Digital Information's 1999 Annual Report, executives attributed much of the company's success to consistent and dramatic increases in the amount and value of information that was being accumulated around the world. An EMC news release announced with a flourish,

   Welcome to the content big bang! The explosion in both individual and
   organizational data taking place over the next five years will dwarf all
   previous market forecasts for information storage. The world will need to
   store and manage more than 10,000 terabytes of digitized information by
   2005 -- 50 times the amount being managed today. Enabled by dramatic
   advances in software storage and hardware technology, the plunging cost of
   storing digitized information, and a tremendous bandwidth expansion, the
   market for information storage products and services will likely exceed
   $100 billion by 2005 (EMC 2000).

Internet: The Dynamic Engine of Change

Repeatedly, executives with the companies surveyed express the view that the Internet is a great transformational influence because it enables people to exchange so much information so easily over such great distances. Such abilities make it a stellar vehicle for selling products and services, dramatically expanding customer markets, and generally extending companies' reach. It has become the new marketplace, the meeting point of company and customer. Some companies feel that no one has yet grasped the full implications of this great information-handling system. Michael Dell of Dell Computer states:

   The Internet must become your business. The use of the Internet throughout
   the business will be what ultimately distinguishes successful firms in all
   industries. In the future, there will be no distinction between "dot.com"
   and traditional businesses, just winners and losers. Internet strategies
   that focus on speed, efficiency, and customer experience will mark the
   winners. Information can no longer be guarded like the crown jewels of your
   business. It must be shared with customers and suppliers over the Internet
   as a powerful source of differentiation. Businesses that don't provide
   better information faster to customers in a way that makes it easy to use
   will quickly lose their advantage (Dell 1999).

New Technology Changes the Rules Suddenly

Executives from a number of the fastest growing companies believe that new and emerging technologies are dramatically transforming the world of information. A new technology can propel a company ahead or relegate it to the backwaters if more aggressive competitors acquire it first. A DiamondCluster executive asserts that the Internet is stimulating the adoption of three disruptive information technologies that will radically change the business environment: (1) wireless; (2) new information appliances; and (3) high-speed, broadband networks.

In the future, customers won't just access businesses via computers. Wireless customers might use a Web site from a Nintendo machine, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a pager. They might communicate directly with companies via satellite. Newly empowered appliances will take on a life of their own. For example, the pantry might call to order food. The air conditioner might confirm an order after holding an auction for the cheapest electricity. High-speed, broadband networks will enable users to send huge amounts of data to each other, including audio and moving images. This capability may foster more peer-to-peer communication, in effect cutting companies and their Web servers out of the loop. Information technology is a great driver of change; the challenge is to make it work in favor of a particular enterprise.

Ascendancy of Wireless

Wireless technologies are the focus of much attention and analysis, and wireless companies on Fortune's list are experiencing dramatic expansion. Government deregulation, the U.S. government's auctioning of new bands of radio spectrum for cellular use, and new aggressive companies have enlivened the industry. Wireless technology has the capacity to put users in touch with almost any type of digital information, anytime, anywhere, via very compact and portable devices. DiamondCluster continually assesses the impact of this key technology. One of its reports notes that wireless devices have a ubiquitous presence and are (or may be) always "on" so that needed information gets through wherever users are located.

In much of Europe and Asia, wireless Internet access via small, hand-held devices may become the only viable way of accessing the Internet. This access gives wireless an added appeal for companies operating in those areas. Wireless is identified with "information anytime" -- virtually instantaneous availability regardless of location. This capability is particularly important for "hot" information (e.g., stock quotations) that people need to take action or make decisions.

Wireless devices have the capacity to send and receive information that is tailored to the needs of a particular location. For example, an auto insurance company could enable its clients' handsets to file a claim instantly from an accident site, providing such information as location, time, accident details, other vehicles and people involved. The strategic implications for financial institutions, for instance, are dramatic. Imagine what will happen when

* all of a company's customers have wireless access to the Web

* a billion people have the ability to communicate instantaneously

* a company can automatically send and receive information from its customers based on their current location and time

* funds can be transferred in real time to or from a wireless device (Grieve and Foux 2000).

"... [W]ireless these days is hot: Both digital and voice, which continue to grow rapidly, and wireless data, which now seems like the Next Big Thing" with the upsurge in cellular phones, mobile computers, PDAs, and other technology (Nee 2000).

The innovative cellular company Qualcomm is clearly pointing the way to the future: Its technological inventiveness (as of early 2000, it had 327 technology patents and 846 pending) is clear evidence of the key role of technological innovation. It is adept at "weaving together the Internet and wireless worlds." Qualcomm's president, Irwin Jacobs, predicts that soon "the phone you carry in your pocket will be as much of a computer as most anyone needs." Mobile phones will soon be able to handle tasks such as getting news, weather reports and e-mail on the road; soon, they will be able to handle more complicated information tasks such as locating gas stations and buying and selling stocks (Nee 2000).

Complexity, Blur

The information world is complex, even for those on the leading edge. Advanced Digital Information executives note that digital information distributed in network computer systems is one of the chief assets of modern organizations, that this information is growing at 100 percent each year, and that it is becoming more valuable.

At the same time network data is growing, the multiple-user computer networks where the data is stored and used are becoming increasingly complex. Mainframe-based data centers remain critical to large organizations, but personal-computer servers and a client/server architecture are assuming more significant roles in the information systems (IS) infrastructure, and mixed network topologies have become the rule. In this environment, the job of organizing, protecting, and recovering data has become very challenging.

MCSi, an integrator of diverse technologies, notes on its Web site that "technological convergence is blurring the lines between the effective implementation and use of data, voice, and video. The manner in which these technologies are delivered and used by successful companies is coming together in exciting new ways" (MSCi 2001). The need to keep pushing new products and services in a swirl of information technology change constantly challenges even the best of the fastest growing technology and telecommunications companies. Telecom companies around the world face increased competition through liberalization and deregulation; consequently, emphasis is increasingly placed on launching and promoting new services that increase revenues, enhance customer bonding, and reduce churn.

Simplicity, Integration

Executives from many of these dynamic companies, recognizing the complexity of managing mission-critical data, assert the need to simplify and integrate different information technologies and streams. Some of the companies have forged ahead with their own technical breakthroughs that are drawing scattered technologies together. For instance, according to a Micrel executive, "the ability to combine high-speed/high-density digital, precision, high-performance analog, and high-voltage/high-power devices all on the same monolithic circuit [has] opened new frontiers in semi-conductor design" (Micrel 2001). Network Appliance offers data storage and management solutions that allow companies to consolidate data from many different sources into centralized locations. Centralization allows them to dramatically improve manageability, which results in less time spent turning, organizing, and expanding the storage function of the enterprise. Consolidating and streamlining databases to make pertinent information easily and quickly available is a common vision. Boise Cascade Office Products, a worldwide distributor of office products, is using the software of one of the fastest growing companies to draw its information streams together, according to its manager of production services:

   ... we were the United Nations of storage. As we struggled to tie our wide
   range of storage products together into a unified, reliable, scalable
   environment, we found storage management was diverting our attention from
   our important e-business initiatives. Now ... with just a few clicks of a
   mouse, we can manage our entire storage environment, protect our
   business-critical data, and make more efficient use of our resources (EMC
   2000).

Other executives stress the need to take a comprehensive, integrated approach to information management. Companies moving into e-business need comprehensive strategies to manage large, unpredictable waves of information that pass though their Web sites. These strategies include: converging information from various sources; centralizing key information in a secure environment; making it readily available, particularly to customers; and making it do double duty, for instance, by running simultaneous processes in parallel.

New Enterprises, New Approaches

The fastest growing companies describe and model new business structures and styles that are appropriate for the turbulent information arena. The old ways of doing business are outmoded; new strategies and approaches are required for growth in the future. Emerging technologies require innovative strategies, exceptional talent, advanced services, and in-depth product knowledge in order to take full advantage of the opportunities they offer.

An executive with i2 Technologies, Inc., a provider of innovative software, declares that it is in the "innovation business." The company delivers value to customers through a cycle of continuous innovation. By applying leading technologies and sound business principles, i2 is changing the way enterprises optimize their core business processes and deliver on the promise of e-business and e-commerce. The company promises quantifiable results for customers, continuing profitability, and heavy re-investment in research/ development, including attracting "the best intellectual minds" in the industry as a way of continually coming up with fresh approaches (i2, 2000).

Sapient, a firm that provides consultation services on business use of the Internet, uses a five-part approach to its work. Its strategies have insights for any company operating in the fast-changing information environment (Sapient 2001):

1. Integrated strategy: This model takes advantage of the most vibrant technologies. Executives from this particular company, like many others among the Fortune list, are thrilled with the Internet. "The idea of `e-business' as a distinct identity is going by the wayside as players either find a way to make the Internet central to their business plans or risk losing relevance in today's competitive environment."

2. Creativity: Companies need a "look, feel, and voice that cuts through the clutter" of information overabundance. That goal requires new ways, including combining voice, verbal, and visual representations, and of organizing and presenting critical information.

3. Technology: Here, the challenge is to identify the most promising technologies, master them quickly, and work to make sure they "mesh seamlessly with business strategy and creative solutions to help us shape the user experience through the client's value chain." Technology is a vehicle; its use must be carefully planned and integrated.

4. Experience modeling: This company has a "chief experience officer" who is responsible for advising on customer interaction over the Web. "Businesses must determine how to create the best online experience possible for their customers," he says. "Customer satisfaction -- and loyalty -- depend on it."

5. Engaged, energetic leadership: "Businesses must change several mission-critical processes simultaneously to take advantage of the networked economy" and undertake large-scale, multidisciplinary projects with many attendant uncertainties in order to succeed. This undertaking requires attention to the ultimate goal as well as a constant focus on short-term projects and issues.

Partnering

In some cases, companies compete on some things and cooperate on others. Many of these developing companies actively seek partners -- firms that can help them develop, test, or refine products and services. Also sought are those who bring technical or other expertise to projects. In many cases, this expertise means capability that extends the reach of both partners well beyond what either of them alone could achieve.

Partnering is regarded as the only way to make substantial progress in some areas where the information technology, customer expectations, and competition are all in motion. "Creating world-class solutions is easy when great partners work together," maintains an executive with Mercury Interactive, whose partners include system integrators, value-added resellers, e-business integrators, and solutions partners with "innovative, industry-leading technologies and practices." Much of this company's business consists of working with program managers on Web site needs analysis, problem identification, customer preferences, and prototyping and testing (Mercury Interactive n.d.).

In other cases, the goal has been to convince traditional competitors to consolidate or pool information resources. DiamondCluster worked with GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler to create a unified online purchasing exchange to reduce purchasing, inventory, and logistics costs. DiamondCluster executives realized that the Internet provided the potential for creating "a standard interface to the manufacturers as well as to their second- and third-tier suppliers," which, among other things, would "decrease time to market by increasing visibility into the inventories of the suppliers." They capitalized on world-class information technology and business strategy to transform longstanding relationships (DiamondCluster 2001).

Customer at the Center

Practically all these companies are genuinely "customer-centric": They cater to the needs of their own customers and provide products or services that, in turn, help those companies understand and meet the needs of their customers. The dramatic shift toward e-business has changed the role of information management. For one thing, technology is the means of access for customers at a distance. According to Mercury Interactive executives, previously, an enterprise typically paid people to use their information technology (IT) system, which meant that cost was the driver in IT planning. However, in the e-business world, people pay to use the enterprise's IT system, and revenue becomes the driver (ComputerWire 1999).

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a buzzword whose time has arrived. "The enterprise that achieves CRM nirvana is an organic and evolving one, with the ultimate aim of turning customers into customers for life" (Blodgett 2000). Executives with i2 Technologies describe the "new, faster, technologically adept business ecosystem" that will provide personalized sales and service in a way that not only pleases customers but also induces them to build long-term business relationships. Information is the key to CRM. Users will need to consolidate information arriving from all points of contact -- sales, marketing, customer service, and support. They will need to include information that arrives via telephone, fax, e-mail, in person, and through the Internet or a personalized customer portal.

The Information Revolution Lifts Society

One of the themes emerging from almost all these companies is that e-business, e-government, and e-commerce are immensely beneficial to society. Dell Computer executives, for instance, believe that e-government offers the potential for greater citizen access, lower cost with more efficient services, and the ability to connect public employees to information they need and technical support for their work. Information and the ability to distribute it broadly is more crucial than ever before for competing successfully in the global economy. IT organizations around the world are being challenged to extend the reach of mission-critical applications to a widening array of users, including mobile employees, telecommuters, partners, customers, and vendors. These applications are running on new types of devices and network connections. Use of information technology to simplify or speed work, free people to do other things, increase productivity, and generally enhance life are repeatedly cited by these companies.

Many of the examples these companies cite are relatively modest applications in which information technology saves time or money or makes work faster or easier. For instance, a new software and computer system enable the Colorado Rockies baseball team to automate the complex process of scheduling and managing their Coors Field employees, including more than 800 game-day workers. Cumbersome sign-in/sign-out procedures were replaced by ID badges that workers swipe. Employee scheduling is simple: Using touch-tone screens, employees can choose to accept or decline their posted schedules or go on standby. Other functions were also automated using the latest software. Employees like it, and satisfaction levels and retention are up. Managers love it: Employees are easier to manage, and reports such as event labor costs can be generated almost instantly (Schwartz 2000). This rather unpretentious example is typical of illustrations of the beneficial use of digital information systems.

The Future Course of the Information Enterprise

Understanding the perspectives of these dynamic, influential companies provides information professionals with helpful insights: The importance of information is on the rise, large-scale change will continue as the order of the day, and innovation and fresh approaches are in vogue. Some general, overarching themes and implications emerge from this study of the views of these insightful, agile companies:

* Information is a dynamic, strategic resource. These companies thrive on information! Their perspectives reinforce the general and continuing theme that major parts of business, government, and society in general are now information based -- they are in the information business, and they work at using, creating, and moving information. They may not yet conceptualize information the same as information professionals do or understand the need for its systematic management, but they could not function without sophisticated information systems.

* Obsession with customers means focus on information. Repeatedly, these companies dramatize the need to know and serve the customer. This new emphasis is just the tip of the iceberg; much more emphasis on the customer is expected in the future. "The customer masters are information masters," notes a study of customer relations. "The customer race is an information race ... Understanding customer needs and making profitable decisions to serve those needs is derived primarily ... from a firm's recorded information. Therefore, the ability to apply this information is probably the single most important factor in acquiring and profitably serving customers and shareholders" (McKean 1999).

* Information professionals will play new roles as educators and interpreters. The world of information is changing so rapidly, information is so robust, and technology is so sophisticated that people sometimes need to find someone who can make sense out of it all. That role is valuable for information professionals who can

-- relate the swirl of change to basic information management concepts

-- remind everyone that usually people are more important than technology in information affairs

-- explain organizing principles such as the life cycle of information

-- counsel that some information has continuing value for legal documentation, historical research, and other purposes

-- help relate information management to the strategic directions of the enterprise

* The information future is being invented. Now is truly a time to assert and shape the future of the information enterprise creatively, broadly defined, and the future of our individual programs. A static approach or glacial change will marginalize programs. "Never has incumbency been worth less," says change expert Gary Hamel. Envisioning the future and then developing plans to take us there are major challenges.

Companies fail to create the future not because they fail to predict it but because they fail to imagine it ... Seeing over the horizon, finding the unconventional, imagining the unimagined -- innovation comes from a new way of seeing and a new way of being. Learn to see different, learn to be different, and you will discover the different (Hamel 2000).

Inventiveness, broadly defined, is perhaps the central theme of these companies. The future of the information enterprise of which information professionals are a part is bound to be exciting! The challenge is to be able to perceive it through the eyes of the company executives who are shaping it and to be inventive in strategically positioning programs to thrive as they contribute to the development of the future of information.

REFERENCES

Blodgett, Mindy. "Masters of the Customer Connection," CIO Magazine, 15 August 2000. Available at "EMC in the News," http://emc.com/enews/in_the_news_archive/0815_cio.jsp (accessed 13 March 2001).

Dell, Michael. "Michael Dell Says Online Sales Represent a Fraction of Internet's Massive Business Potential." 25 August 1999 press release. Available at www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/press/pressoffice_us_1999-08-25 (accessed 12 March 2001).

DiamondCluster International, Inc. "Automakers Become Partners in Cyberspace." Available at www.diamoncluster.com/work/cases/case2.asp (accessed 14 March 2001).

EMC. "Boise Cascade Sheds `United Nations of Storage' Status with EMC E-Infostructure," 23 August 2000 news release. Available at www.emc.com/news/press_release/view.jsp?id=486 (accessed 12 March 2001).

EMC."EMC Looks Around the Corner to 50-Fold Explosion in Information Growth, $100 Billion Market Opportunity," 3 August 2000 news release. Available at www.emc.com/press_releases/view.jsp?id=474 (accessed 12 March 2001).

Grieve, Kevin, and Graeme Foux. "Wireless Internet: Far More Than Just `Web Lite.'" Digital Bit, May-June 2000.

Hamel, Gary. Leading the Revolution (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000), 6, 120.

i2 Technologies, Inc. "Company Principles," Available at www.i2.com (accessed 12 March 2001).

McKean, John. Information Masters: Secrets of the Customer Race (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999), 1, 5.

MCSi. "Products and Services." Available at www.mcsinet.com/products_services/index/html (accessed 14 March 2001).

Mercury Interactive. "Alliances," and "Success Stories," n.d. Available at www.mercuryinteractive.com/alliances (accessed 14 March 2001).

"Mercury Interactive Test Suite Enterprise," ComputerWire, June 1999, 5621.

"Micrel: The Infinite Bandwidth Company." Available at www.micrel.com/ corp-info/corpinfo.shml (accessed 14 March 2001).

Nee, Eric. "Qualcomm Hits the Big Time." Fortune, 15 May 2000.

Sapient. "Disciplines." Available at www.sapient.com (accessed 14 March 14, 2001).

Schwartz, David. "Coors Field Hits a Grand Slam with Citrix Meta Frame." Available at http://press.citrix.com/news/profiles/coors.htm (accessed 13 March 2001).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bruce W. Dearstyne, Ph.D. is a professor at the College of Information Studies, University of Maryland. He teaches courses in archives, records management, and related areas and coordinates the Archives, Records, and Information Management concentration within the MLS program. He has more than 25 years' experience in information management and has written numerous articles and six books, including Managing Government Records and Information (ARMA International, 1999). He has a Ph.D. in history from Syracuse University. His article, "Records Management of the Future: Anticipate, Adapt, and Succeed," was published in the October 1999 issue of the IMJ. He may be reached at [e-mail].