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Mastering Information across Economic Cycles 167

Information mastery and productivity

As companies improve their information competency levels,
they spend more of their productive time in information-
related activities. When a business can significantly reduce
the time it takes to execute these activities, it can either:

1. execute more business programs; or
2. execute the same business programs with less resources.

If a business looks at how its time is spread between activi-
ties before the road to mastery, the mix is as follows:*

As Figure 7.12 depicts, 30% of employees’ time is spent
on vacation and personal time. The remaining 70% of
employees’ time is information-centric.

Business can be thought of as a series of decisions. If
an organization can speed up decisions and the elements
of making those decisions, productivity gains proliferate.
In addition, the actual time spent in value-added activities
becomes more productive. More advanced competency
businesses report productivity gains in some areas measur-
ing 10 times more compared to lower competency levels.

Figure 7.12
* Source: PA Consulting Group.