In other words, IAN remains a work in progress. Which is why Durham regularly surveys users to find out how well the system is working and what needs improvement. "We don't have all the answers," Ward says, "but we're always searching for them."

That sounds like the right idea.

Chuck Salter (csalter@bcpl.net), a Fast Company contributing editor, is based in Baltimore. We've lost track of all of his bright ideas. You can visit Context Integration on the Web (www.context.com).

Sidebar: How to Get Smarter

Selling the same old products. Failing to meet deadlines -- yet again. Missing big market opportunities. These are some of the symptoms of low-IQ companies, according to Haim Mendelson and Johannes Ziegler, authors of Survival of the Smartest: Managing Information for Rapid Action and World-Class Performance (John Wiley & Sons, 1999). Unless these kinds of companies smarten up, they won't be around for much longer.

"I compare the logic of competition today to playing chess," says Ziegler, a former consultant with McKinsey & Co. and the cofounder of Synesis Management Consulting. "If you have a decent IQ, you can practice and become the champion of your local chess club. But if, all of a sudden you have to compete against a world-class player like Garry Kasparov, you won't stand a chance. The same kind of thing is happening to a lot of companies. They're basically being put out of business because they're out of their league. They don't have the organizational IQ to be competitive."

How can you gauge your company's IQ? Ziegler and Mendelson, who serves as the James Irwin Miller Professor of Information Systems at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, measure a company's intelligence in five areas.

1. Information awareness. Does each branch of your organization stay informed about customers, competitors, and industry trends?

2. Decision architecture. Is there a discrepancy between those who have information and those who have decision-making authority?

3. Internal knowledge. How often do your employees share what they know with others? How well do they learn from their mistakes?

4. Organizational focus. How fast does your company respond to new information and new opportunities? Does it deliver excellence in one or two areas -- or does it deliver mediocrity in many areas?

5. Business networks. Does your company take advantage of the expertise of your partners: suppliers, distributors, and resellers?

Not feeling bright? Now comes the hard part -- raising your company's IQ. Mendelson and Ziegler suggest a few exercises to get started.

1. Test your intelligence. Gather a cross-section of managers and get them to assess each department's performance in the five areas listed above. For a more in-depth analysis, do the same with people on the front lines.

2. Create a sense of urgency. Focus on a recent failure that illustrates the high cost of not being smarter.

3. Offer success stories. Describe how another company (even a competitor) benefited from increasing its IQ.

4. Don't try to get smart at everything. Start by picking one area in which you can produce major results fast.

5. Do something -- even if it's small. Raising the IQ of one unit can set a standard for other units, and it can generate momentum for your entire organization.

6. Share signs of progress. If a decision gets made with unusual speed, or if critical information becomes accessible to more people than before, tell everyone.

"Increasing IQ not only improves performance -- it can also make your company a better place to work," Ziegler says. "A low IQ leads to frustration." One last point: You can never be too smart. "How do you know you're smart enough?" asks Ziegler. "That's like asking, 'When is a company profitable enough?' You can always get smarter."