Let's take the example of Amazon. The logistics of this company is overwhelming. Only in Spain have hundreds of thousands of daily shipments (the last Black Friday got to have spikes of 325 orders per minute!!!) and, logically, everything is managed by a layer of Business Process Management. Otherwise it would be impossible to manage a business of this size, so scalable. But when, as a customer, we make a purchase on Amazon, what is it that you most value? The product is given by course, and the price also! But that is to decide to buy. Once the order is placed, the thing that attracts us is the degree of visibility that gives Amazon until the purchase arrives at our house. Tells us when the package is ready, we make a prediction of the date of delivery, and finally we know the day and the exact time of when the transport will come to your home. And that is Information that we will come and that helps us to manage our actions that depend on that purchase. Why I shop at Amazon a book that I need the day after tomorrow? Because when am I going to get, and if that's not possible will you notify me and I will be able to take necessary corrective actions. All my actions are based on the Information that I have available at that time and, therefore, such Information is vital for me. And of course, for the purchase arrives in time to my house, it is necessary that the whole process on Amazon is impeccable. And the workers of Amazon need to have all available information to ensure delivery.

In the us tv the same thing happens. The program Director wants to issue a premiere next Saturday night and the publicity machine is set in motion. They sell the advertising blocks providing a few GRPs very appetizing, and this premiere will also cause the chain end of the month as leader of audiences. In this scenario of great expectations, on Friday afternoon, someone realizes, by chance, that the film is not yet ready, that is missing to add a few songs and the study of subtitling has not sent the translations. Or maybe yes, but so, too, received Peter, who is on vacation from Tuesday. And Peter is off the mobile phone when they come out of the tv. The nerves are starting to bloom as it is the policy of the house that the songs go subtitled and the study of subtitling no longer respond to telephone, on a Friday, July at 6 pm and there is nobody else in the office. To see who is valiant, who explains to him what is happening to the Director of programming. Better to do everything possible to fix the mess. Finally on Saturday, we hired a translator and an editing room to burn the subtitles into the film. Logically, the price is weekend, so the joke goes pretty face, but everything for the premiere!. The thing is lengthened a bit, because the operator of the editing room is not a great expert, but finally at 7 in the afternoon reach the video file to the playout to be issued. At that time it is issuing a live game so there is no time to validate the film. But finally, your time, is issued premiere as planned. – What about the audio? You hear only in English! The operator of the editing room doubled the tracks in the original language in the render, and the resulting file is in English only...

You sound this story? To some it may seem a bit exaggerated, but who we have worked many years at the foot of playout sure that we outlined a smile on your face. What you imagine it to Amazon to work this way? Sure that would not be the Amazon you know.

How and where to start the problem? In the Friday afternoon no one had noticed that the movie was not prepared. When things are discovered by chance or at the last minute means that the information flow is not enough. We have all the systems digitized, all have their APIs to connect with the world, do not buy a system without API!! But if not then connect them to collect and aggregate all the information to the users, what we serve? How do we know that all the contents are intended to issue in the coming days, are ready for the issue? Obviously, this information is obtained from multiple systems but, how do you see it at a glance? Do without having to go system by system asking?, Do without having to use Excel documents to super complex loaded by hand, and that, with the passage of time, they have grown and have become unmanageable?

The data are important for the strategy, but the information is essential for the operations. Perhaps the time has come to ask ourselves if we have all the information that we need to do our job, on a single screen in real time. We can see the data generated by the systems as well as to our salvation, but by themselves, without transforming to the users, they serve a little bit. The good news is that with the digitization, it is easy to generate this layer of information for operations. In the end, what is important is that the premiere quit, and to do this the users need to know.