The Incredible Costs
I believe this management acceptance of the costs of the status quo is a reluctant acceptance, because they believed there was no alternative. Most organizations have come to accept the level of non-quality data as normal and usual. After all, we are profitable, are not we? As long as the level of data quality is relatively the same among the competition, the competitive battle lines are drawn in other areas, But when someone redefines the role of data quality as the Japanese did with auto quality, the rules of the game change. The U.S. auto industry is Big Three (GM.Ford and chrysler) are still losing ground over the past decade. Their domestic car market share fell from 76.0 percent in 1984 to 62.5 percent in 1996, an all-time annual low. January 1997 started out worse with the Big Three is domestic auto market share dipping to 59.3 percent, according to industry tracker Autodata. General Motors lost a whopping $4.5 billion in 1991 and followed with an incomprehensible $23.5 billion loss the the next year, before they got their act together. While they have regained profitability, with a record $6.9 billion in 1995, their combined profits from the four years 1993-1996 have not erased the loss of 1992 alone. And GM ‘s market share in the U.S. continues to slide from 34 percent in 92 to 31.6 percent in 96 GM stockholders can only speculate what their stock value might be today if the American auto manufactures had not been oblivious th the quality revolution.
The quality revolution has redefined quality from an optional characteristic to a basic requirement for both goods and services. It is no longer sufficient to compete on price alone . Customer satisfaction is the key driver for long-term financial and organizational success today. GM’s new CEO, Jack Smith, Admonished employees in October 1996, We cannot afford the luxury of complacency. Continuous improvement is the name of the game if we want to assure our jobs and the future of this great company.
The message here is that the same kind of quality revolution in information quality will change the name of the game if information professionals want to assure their jobs and the futures of their organizations. Those oblivious to its imminence will suffer. The question is only a matter of how much.
Management cam no longer afford the luxury of the excessive costs of non-quality data. In the information age a quality, shared knowledge resource is the differentiator. Lack of quality information is to the next decade what product quality was to the 1980s.