UK-based Venture has released preliminary results* from its upstream information management survey, announced last year (OITJ October 2008). Venture quizzed 25 UK-based E&P companies on IT and IM practices, information behavior and values using the ‘information orientation’ (IO) categorization developed by researchers at the University of Stavanger. The main conclusion from the study is that satisfaction with current procedures is low. There is a recognized need for improvement in IM with emphasis on assessment, organization and sharing.
A striking observation was the common occurrence of bi-modal patterns in the query responses, delineating satisfied and dissatisfied groups. These could represent a lack of consensus as to best practices or failed implementations.
Trying to relate IM to business performance proved hard but Venture’s researchers reject the idea that there is no underlying relationship between IM and business performance. The lack of such a correlation in the survey results is likely to represent the fact that such surveys fail to take account of other effects on business performance. For example, although the accuracy and ease access to geological information will favor exploration success, such a correlation may be masked by the acquisition of other companies.
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