March 8, 2007

11:10 am – 12:30 pm

Corporations are facing enormous transformative pressure. Success now demands a new level of information sharing. Markets demand that companies collaborate beyond the walls of the enterprise but inconsistent data impedes communication, decision-making and the basic operations of networked business models.

To compete, companies must bridge information islands. Yet many firms lack the prerequisite lingua franca of common data. The irresistible force of the new collaborative enterprise is meeting an immovable object, the legacy system, which buries management in multiple myopic views of disaggregated, inconsistent, and dated data. Stranded information islands abound. The result can be a tangled mess of information that impairs customer service, forces duplication of effort, creates risk, and fumbles market opportunities. What was once everyone’s problem and no one’s responsibility needs someone to accept the role for master data governance.

To survive and thrive, companies need a single version of the truth. This can be achieved through enterprise architectures and a new generation of master data management capabilities. Don Tapscott, one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and business explains how accurate master data can lift the veil of uncertainty, aid reporting/compliance, reduce costs, increase sales, simplify processes, improve loyalty, and optimize other IT investments.

Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading authorities on business strategy, is Chief Executive of international think tank New Paradigm. New Paradigm, founded in 1993, produces groundbreaking research focused on the role of technology in productivity, business design, effectiveness and competitiveness. Tapscott recently completed a $4 million investigation of how firms will innovate in the 21st Century entitled IT and Competitive Advantage, funded by 22 global corporations. The project continues in 2006.

Tapscott is the author of 10 widely read books about information technology in business and society, including Paradigm Shift, Growing Up Digital and The Naked Corporation. His new book (Fall 2006), co-authored with Anthony Williams, is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. He is also adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. His clients include top executives of many of the world's largest corporations and government leaders from many countries. He holds a master's degree in Research Methodology and an (Hon.) Doctor of Laws.