Report examines the public sector's use of analytics.

There has never been more information available, and making good use of the right data has never been more important. At the same time, dealing with all that information can be challenging. The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 100 officials around the world to determine ways the public sector can manage the information explosion and find useful data that will allow them to make better decisions. According to the Institute's recent study, The Power of Analytics for Pubic Sector: Building Analytics Competency to Accelerate Outcomes, organizations need to embrace analytics as a core management competency and use information to create desired outcomes.

Not surprisingly, the study found that public-sector leaders are starting to use analytics to manage for results, but the "data paradox"--the management dilemma of having too much data to be able to extract meaningful insights--is the main barrier to adopting and using this information. Today, most organizations spend more time collecting and organizing data than analyzing it. Analytics talent also tends to...