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Business Review 2006 from
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Knowledge still equals power
Dr Ian Jauncey
chairman, Itex
In the late 16th century Sir Francis Bacon, author, courtier and philosopher, mused on those aspects of human interaction that identify the winners and the losers and, in his seminal Meditations came up with the 'knowledge is power' quote we know today.
Perhaps Sir Francis was overly influenced by the intrigue of the Elizabethan court, but he was the first to clearly recognise the decisive advantage that information could give.
Five centuries later and we are firmly in the era of globalisation and the information age. Perhaps this is why Sir Frances' words are becoming one of the most reused quotes of the Internet. On a global political scale, Kofi Anan uses 'knowledge is power, information is liberating' to press for more open governments. And on a local business scale, knowledge is a bedrock of Jersey's position in the business world.
The leading attributes of Jersey on the international stage are well established: political stability, benign but visible legislative and fiscal regimes, offshore Europe, high quality skills base and innovative attitude. At least two of these are founded on knowledge; those products that provide the tailored financial service, the fiscal vehicles that maximise retained income, those processes that optimise efficiency. And of course there is confidentiality. Despite the introductions of EUSD and the role of Basel II, Sarbox and the other 10,000 regulations around the world, integrity of information is crucial. And maintaining this integrity requires not only data protection and retention but also provenance and discovery. The implications are significant.
One result is that we are seeing an information tsunami. Retained data is growing at a compound rate of 78% per year.
'Landfills'
Most organisations are simply buying more data storage and using them as 'digital landfills'. The price of storage is falling by a third every year so, like waste disposal, it's still cheap enough to store and forget. But it's not a long-term solution.
Is more technology the answer? Yes and no. The first step is to recognise that data falls into two camps. Operational data, which is in use every day and generally characterised by being relatively recent in creation or change; and secondly reference data, which is needed for possible use at some later stage. It is reference data that is hardly ever killed off. 90% of reference data has never been accessed 90 days after its creation. A pragmatic information life cycle management regime should be put in place.
The second step is to change the reference storage solution so that it is easer to access. At Itex we have seen a strong growth in the number of enterprise virtual array or storage area network solutions we deliver to clients, as these enable consolidated large volume online storage solutions to be put in place. Further, the use of encryption and compression technologies means than online vaulting solutions are now an economic reality. Rock solid retrieval means that such electronic data is reliable and admissible - according to industry research 20% of data stored on tape and kept for three years is irrecoverable. Definitely not compliant with regulation.
The third step is to learn the skills by which this data is turned into knowledge. The current term is business intelligence. Management and event executive information systems have been around for some time, but these systems have been predominantly about retrieval from disparate databases rather than intelligence. With a storage area network solution, no longer the information silo's of the past. Business intelligence is now interactive, intuitive and real time.
And Jersey is in a unique position to again innovate in the knowledge economy. We are already a favoured centre for global business continuity - at Itex alone we have seen our seat capacity double in the last three years. We are a safe harbour for data repositories and retention. And we know what it means to provide tailored complex services to a demanding and increasingly mobile customer. Innovation is the key.
Perhaps not much has changed in five centuries. To give Sir Frances the last word: 'A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.'
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