The best IT leaders know their numbers. But there are some numbers only outsiders can provide.

Here’s a simple stat that barely needs an explanation or even proof: 100 percent of people make better decisions when they have good information behind them.

Over the last week or so, the outcry over the death of the federal long-form census has continued to grow. It’s not just an issue for academics or policy makers. As BNN and others reported, businesses are starting to worry they won’t have the data they need to decide where to open their next location, what the hiring situation will look like as they build their team and how to market to specific customers. We also lose a lot, of course, by not having as much information on occupations like ICT, which can help expose skill gaps and assess how many women are entering the field.

We’re no StatsCan, but our annual CIO Census is at least one way to hone in on actionable information for IT leaders and the people that surround them. We’ve been compiling this research for several years now, so we’ll have some good year-over-year analysis on the challenges CIOs here face, their priorities for 2015 and beyond, and a lot more.

I give more background in the clip below, along with some highlights of last year’s study. Take a few minutes to fill it out ASAP, and look forward to full coverage this Spring.

(By Shane Schick)