I just got to read this article on Dell and my mind started moving in what is called as "Dell Time" , as to how information inventory will become a competitive advantage for enterprises.
Dell's information inventory helps them turn their inventory 107 times a year while HP/IBM turn their inventory 8.5 and 17.5 times per year respectively! It helps Dell forecast sales with 75% accuracy. Dell ships 80000 PCs every 24 hrs and they don't hold more than 72 hours of inventory in their entire operation!
The traditional "mental model" of order taking to delivery is increasingly getting squeezed. It is imperative to have best-in-class "inventory of customer information" to serve them better. We need to quickly collect, organize and access customer information, redirect the information to respective departments, resolve the query or need in nano seconds.
If you take a little longer, our customer is gone. Can we afford it?
It's time to rejig old mental models of any business before somebody else comes-in and changes the rules.