Study of Data Roadblocks Costs Tags Capital Facilities Industry With $15.8 Billion Loss 8/9/2004
About $10.5 billion of that cost is incurred during operations and maintenance and is borne by owners and operators, the report concludes. It adds, however, that respondents to the survey used to generate the data said there are significant additional inefficiency and lost opportunity costs associated with the issue that were not included in the scope of the analysis. Thus, the report concludes, the $15.8 billion estimate "is likely to be a conservative figure."
The 210 page report into the cost of a lack of interoperability was prepared by RTI, a health, social and economics research firm located at Research Triangle Park, N.C. It was sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. A similar RTI study into the cost of a lack of interoperability in the automotive and electronics industry estimated the costs to those industries to be about 1.25% of the total value of shipments, or, in the case of the automotive industry, just over $5 billion per year.