Information management is about much more than just effective storage, search and retrieval. It touches every part of a business as well as its technology infrastructure, and includes processes such as information lifecycle management, data quality and content management.

The process is also about the convergence and collision of structured corporate data ­ billions of rows of data carefully organised in databases, spreadsheets and deftly crafted management reports ­ and messy unstructured data sprawling across documents, emails, voice and video files without any semblance or pretext of order.

Historically, managing data has been seen as a cost to business, requiring investment in database applications together with their associated data warehouses, plus the people to manage them.

Today, corporate information is recognised as an essential asset of the business, to be unlocked, manipulated and coerced into revealing the secrets that will provide the holy grails
of competitive advantage: business efficiency and improved profitability.

Richard West, head of organisational and e-learning at aerospace and defence company BAE Systems, says big benefits can be accrued from simply sharing information across an organisation. “Eighty per cent of our networked employees were wasting an average of 30 minutes per day retrieving information, while 60 per cent were spending an hour or more duplicating the work of others,” he says.

“We discovered engineers working in different parts of the country on precisely the same problem ­ a wing construction issue ­ but in very different areas, a military aircraft and an Airbus.”

The mountain of information available to UK firms is vast and growing, and the effective use of information has become a serious problem for businesses of all sizes. Information is now one of an organisation’s core assets and a source of competitive advantage, yet most companies are struggling to manage this asset and provide knowledge effectively to their workers.

Richard Edwards, senior research analyst at Butler Group, says companies whose senior management take a positive interest in information management are much more open to adopting technologies that support data-centric processes.

“Organisations that have accepted the business value of information management systems and solutions also realise that these tools and techniques can be used to increase efficiency and reduce cost,” he says.

The expense of managing information is enormous in terms of time, energy and cost, says Neil Pamment, IT director at international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte. “Information management is at the forefront of our business because of the huge amounts of data that we have,” he says. “We are consciously looking at how we manage and structure our data, to reduce the management burden and make it more accessible to our staff.”

Information is even an important resource for football clubs. Dave Atkinson, IT manager at Premiership club Bolton Wanderers, says it is no different to any other business. “We have all our fans’ data, ticketing systems and customer relationship management systems that pinpoint what an individual is buying online or at the club match by match,” he says.

“We house a lot of data like any other business, and with information contained in emails these days constituting an abiding contract, it’s a high priority for us to ensure that it is well-managed and looked after.”

With the continued increase in volumes of data, developing a strategic approach to information management has become a necessity for all organisations. Tim Jennings, research director at analyst Butler Group, says risk management, efficiency and innovation are the key business drivers for developing a cohesive information management strategy.

“Security, compliance and governance, along with process improvement, decision support and performance management, are some of the reasons why companies are starting to think about an information management strategy,” he says. “For others it’s the need to retain customers, collaborate with partners or introduce new products that are the main concerns.”

Ian Charlesworth, principal analyst at Ovum, says companies are now facing unmanageable volumes of data. “Even if we could stop the treadmill now and simply manage what we have, that would be difficult,” he says.

“Existing applications are still creating new data stores, so companies have to take a unified approach. They have to plug the hole and then work out where they are going next.”

To be successful, a unified information strategy must be aligned to organisational objectives and the company vision. One of the techniques Butler Group recommends for helping companies match their core objectives to the wealth of key information assets and processes is to take a strategy map approach.

For example, if meeting flight schedules was one of the key objectives for a low-cost airline, key information resources would include flight operations data to confirm the operation schedule, plus customer survey data to identify the perception of the service, together with appropriate management reporting to identify areas for improvement.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing companies today is in building an information culture to support a corporate information strategy. Policies have to be in place to establish the information guidelines and principles by which the company works, as well as perhaps training or mentoring to give employees the information management and collaborative skills they will be expected to use.

“Information management is less developed and mature, so examples of best p ractice don’t yet exist,” says Butler Group’s Jennings. “However it’s important to set out principles for good information management that individuals can follow in the same way that companies have good email use policies. In my opinion the public sector is ahead of the curve in making sure there is an awareness of information management principles, closely followed by the risk management-driven legal sector.”

Once the information strategy is determined and a culture established, the information capabilities of the organisation can be considered. Broadly falling into four categories, these include the data infrastructure and data management that support the information services and information delivery layers.

Organisations can then finally start looking at the technology systems that will be needed to implement the required information capabilities. Many of these capabilities already exist within organisations, and unified information management will start to pull them together.

“We are beginning to see good signs of convergence,” says Jennings. “The enterprise portal is undergoing resurgence and enterprise search capabilities are providing a bridge between the structured and unstructured data worlds.”

In addition, collaboration and Web 2.0 tools are creating an impact within business. Collaboration has become an important driver in the information process and it may be that a new collaboration toolset layer, rather than integration or convergence, will be key to sharing information from multiple structured and unstructured data sources throughout the organisation.

Companies facing unmanageable volumes of data have to take charge now, because poor information management results in inefficient business processes and has a severe bottom line impact.

However, developing a unified information management strategy will provide companies with the ability to maintain a competitive edge over their less well-prepared competitors.

Next week: the first part of Computing’s definitive guide to integration.

What the experts say about information management
Any piece of information, in the right context, delivered at the right time, is an asset to the company. Information management has gone from being an opportunity for performance improvement to a critical business process without which a company could go under fairly rapidly. Sound information management is critical to the success of every business, in more ways than one.
Richard West, head of organisational and e-learning, BAE Systems

Information management is at the forefront of business consciousness now because of the huge amounts of data that we are generating. Managing it effectively can consume a serious amount of energy, time and money and at times we forget that the process is all about getting the right information to the right people, in the right format at the right time. It’s no longer about the technology, it’s about the business.
Neil Pamment, IT director, Denton Wilde Sapte

We recognise that the data and information belong to the business, and our job is to look after it. I want to get away from the massive trail of paperwork by moving to electronic record keeping, and to do that we need to look at how we organise our data while giving back responsibility for owning the data to the business.
Dave Atkinson, IT manager, Bolton Wanderers FC

Organisations are recognising that some pieces of their information have more fundamental value than other parts, although that value might not be realisable today. For certain items of information its maximum value will only be achieved at some point in the future, so companies need to invest in good archiving, storage, search and retrieval systems today.
Ian Charlesworth, principal analyst, Ovum

The three principal drivers for information management are risk management, efficiency and innovation. It is essential for organisations to recognise that information is an asset – something that has value, is measurable, and which can be used, like any other asset, for the fulfilment of the organisation’s strategy. Few organisations today have a clearly defined strategy for information.
Tim Jennings, research director, Butler Group