Southern Company, Atlanta, Georgia, has been listed on the InformationWeek 500 list. The company is ranked at number 144 on the list, up from 158 last year.
For the past 18 years InformationWeek has identified and honored the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual listing. The list is unique among corporate rankings because it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders.
"The InformationWeek 500 honors today's leading companies who set the benchmark for business technology strategies and projects," said InformationWeek publishing director, Fritz Nelson. "The companies on our list are some of the most innovative users of technology."
"At a high level, our success can be attributed to extensive pre-planning and excellent execution of a well-defined plan," Southern Company CEO David Ratcliffe said in describing the company's quick response to storm outages following Katrina.
Due to Southern Company's focus on restoration technology, IT delivered the support that enabled power to be restored to all customers who could receive it within 12 days after Katrina hit. The company had also installed a new enterprise content management system for critical power facilities and equipment, giving engineers from assisting companies access to Southern Company's drawings and maps. This reduced the time spent finding essential restoration information from two hours to 10 minutes.
