The information axis deals with the transformation of uncertainty and ignorance into precise knowledge. Ignorance means the information is known or accessible elsewhere, but the innovator is oblivious and thus at a competitive disadvantage. The opposite of ignorance is knowledge. Ignorance is most efficiently addressed by study and analysis prior to operations. Managerial decisions regarding innovation are dominated by the lack of information.
Information gathering along the application linkage axis usually results in removing uncertainty.
It can be assumed that once information is learned, it will not be forgotten. The ultimate objective, or bulls-eye, for an innovation is continuing market evolution under precise knowledge, with optimum products from optimum processes satisfying optimum demand. The sequence, if not the timing, of events is predictable using the Daghfous and White model. To manage innovations that may be adopted externally via organizational learning or process management implies that the organization recognizes the importance of the information axis and how it impacts the other axes. The Software CMM focuses on process-centered change, whether the change is incremental or revolutionary, internal or external.