Sir - Cisco's [chief executive officer] John Chambers' states ("Cisco's new aim: only connect" 18/19 July) that Cisco's CRS-1 is the biggest jump in innovation since the router was introduced 20 years ago.  But is Cisco focused on the wrong problem?

Cisco has expertise in real time data flows yet takes almost 10 days to publish its quarterly results.  GE may have used IT to revolutionise its business since 1984, but only publishes its quarterly records one day earlier.

Could the real issue relate to Gartner's estimate that more than 25% of critical data in Fortune 1,000 business is inaccurate or incomplete?  Gartner says this is why 50-70% of data integration projects under-deliver on client expectations and why most quarterly results are crunched manually on a spreadsheet.

Hyping technology and throwing it at the enterprise just delivers junk faster from A to Z.  A decade of intensive business change has left many organisations with a multitude of poorly integrated business units and limited understanding of the processes needed to make them work together.  Chief executive officers are rightly suspicious of the "next big thing".

A key part of the IT agenda must focus on measuring existing data quality and factually determining the gap between that and 100%.  Only then can you assess if the cost of the "next big thing" like Cisco's CRS-1 exceeds the payback.

Adrian McKeon

Managing Director

Infoshare

Kingston upon Thames

Surrey