What is information management? Information management (IM) is the harnessing of the information resources and information capabilities of the organization in order to add and create value both for itself and for its clients or customers. Information management is the management of organizational processes and systems that acquire, create, organize, distribute, and use information. We adopt a process view of information management. In this view, IM is a continuous cycle of five closely related activities:
- identification of information needs;
- acquisition and creation of information;
- organization and storage of information;
- information dissemination;
- information use.
The idea underlying IM is that just as an organization purposefully and systematically manages its human resources or financial assets, it should do likewise for its information resources and processes. All the classic functions of managing an organizational activity apply to IM as well: defining goals, providing leadership, developing policies, allocating resources, training staff, evaluation and feedback.
What are the benefits of information management? Generally speaking, there are four kinds of benefits from managing information strategically:
- reduce costs;
- reduce uncertainty or risks;
- add value to existing products or services;
- create new value through new information-based products or services.
What is the difference between data, information and knowledge? Consider a document containing a table of numbers indicating product sales for the quarter. As they stand, these numbers are Data. An employee reads these numbers, recognizes the name and nature of the product, and notices that the numbers are below last year’s figures, indicating a downward trend. The data has become Information. The employee considers possible explanations for the product decline (perhaps using additional information and personal judgment), and comes to the conclusion that the product is no longer attractive to its customers. This new belief, derived from reasoning and reflection, is Knowledge. Thus, information is data given context, and endowed with meaning and significance. Knowledge is information that is transformed through reasoning and reflection into beliefs, concepts, and mental models.
What is an information strategy? An information strategy describes the overall direction and general framework in which the organization’s information resources and processes should be managed so that the organization would achieve its most important goals. An Information Strategy typically consists of the following: IM goals and objectives that are well aligned with the organization’s mission and vision IM principles that articulate desirable outcomes and form the foundation for developing information policies One or more areas of strategic focus: this could be some critical information content; common information to be shared; some information-intensive process; or new information-based products or services.
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