From e-mail to e-commerce, we have all seen the impact of disruptive technology on how organizations communicate and view information. The corresponding change in the pace of business means that businesses must now run at Gigabit, or greater, speeds and amass volumes of information that were previously impractical. This heightened speed of business is resulting in a new wave of disruptive technologies, in the form of analytical engines, to scrutinize the masses of information and move organizations to the next level of competitive advantage.

Examples can be easily found in industries like Telecommunications and Retail. In Telecommunications, Internet voice and content applications like Voice over IP (VoIP), and in Retail, detailed transaction systems like real-time point-of-sale (POS), are generating an explosion of data to collect, analyze and properly manage. Deriving valuable information from their data has long been a strategic business goal of companies in these industries. Initially, these businesses wanted to understand a simple customer interaction, now they want to know not only the "wheres" and "whens" of the interaction, but how to link it to everyday business activities like cost and inventory management.

For business executives who seek to leverage the value in these data-stores for competitive advantage, it is essential that they push their strategies to front-line employees and processes. Reducing the time it takes to make strategy-aligned, day-to-day decisions can deliver significant advantage for businesses operating at Gigabit speeds.

This white paper explores the rebirth of Operations Management (OM), introduces examples of industries that utilize it for competitive advantage, and provides additional OM resources.