That is what I thought recently after a day of hearing from multiple sources that many companies:
- have paid down debt
- have strengthened balance sheets
- are holding cash at record levels
- are buying back stock
- have stopped many investments due to market, regulation, and ROI uncertainties
Having heard the points above several times that day, I was in a business meeting where the facilitator mentioned that companies, particularly manufacturers, had experienced massive productivity enhancements since the 1990s due to Information Technology solutions. Then it hit me. While companies struggle to find a place to put cash to work with a more certain return, why not look to invest some of those dollars into internal and external data integration projects? They have measurable return, streamline company operations, provide efficiencies in tough times, and offer economies of scale in good times.This is not an incredibly original idea I realize, but a good question to pose when your company holds a lot of cash, your integration project projects a great ROI, and your project is denied because “it is not in the budget”.
