Information management is indispensable for deploying IT effectively in an organisation. But what is it exactly? What does an information manager do? And how is that different from the role of an IT manager?
What is information management?
Information management revolves around the role of IT within the organisation. Employees need data to do their jobs. There are various means for this such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. These are fed by resources such as e-mail, shared folders, IM messages and so on.
IT provides the resources, the means and the infrastructure needed to connect them. Information management is about the connection between what IT delivers and the rest of the organisation. It brings together the demand for digital support and the supply.
Why is it important?
What solutions does the organisation need? Does the IT department meet this demand? If not, why not? How do you guard the unity of processes? Where can departments turn when they need new digital tooling?
The IT department takes care of the management of all resources. Their first priority is therefore to manage them. This can conflict with the organisation’s need to innovate. Innovative tools can be at odds with IT’s need to guarantee stability. Information management brings such discrepancies to light and mediates in the search for a solution.
