Businesses across the world are amassing digital information faster than they know what to do with it.

Servers are bursting at the seams and many information systems are slowed by the sheer flow of digital traffic. What they need is effective data management.

In real terms this means rather more than just deleting obsolete files and making sure the server is kept tidy. Systems have to be streamlined, processes need to be re-examined and people need to be trained to reduce the amount of information overload.

Many organisations have a multiplicity of disparate systems that don't speak to each other and subsequently don't share information efficiently.

More worryingly some business information is held in separate incompatible systems that can't be integrated to make communications function properly.

Making your business work efficiently means you have to make all your business machines communicate and share their information effectively.

Sussex Innovation Centre-based information engineers Diya has earned an enviable reputation for sorting the wheat from the chaff and producing robust software systems which can make a businesses run more efficiently. It believes that in most cases, its clients hold the answers to their own problems.

Managing director Barry Ray said: "Businesses need an information management system that will save them time and make them money."

Information management starts when a company recognises it owns critical information and takes steps to ensure this information is made available to their key personnel. Unfortunately, many companies have no idea what their key business information actually is.

Mr Ray said: "You need to start with the basics. Client lists are fine but which of those clients produces the most turnover or profit for your organisation? The top earners or turners are critical to the success of your business."

Another aspect of information management is the location of critical information.

Mr Ray said: "Information management isn't easy but it is possible.

It simply needs logical, critical analysis to make it work."

www.diya.co.uk