What is Information Management

Information Management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences.

Information management includes the following:

• Document management
• Content management
• Forms Management and Processing
• Records Management
• Collaboration
• Workflow
• Email or correspondence management
• Information or web portals
• Intranets
• Integration of different information systems

In short, information management entails organizing, retrieving, acquiring and maintaining, and distributing information.

Different Types of Information

Information is generally to be found in three different forms. There is structured information, which is generally held in databases. Examples of this are sales information, stock control etc.

There is then unstructured information (which is often referred to as “content”). Unstructured information accounts for approximately 80% of all company information and is usually in the form of documents, emails, reports, spreadsheets, web pages, notes etc

Finally, of course, there is information which is stored in the brains of employees and is not written down anywhere!
What Does Information Management Mean to a Company

Information management is about the control and organization of all important company information in a way that means:

1. One “version of the truth” – only current approved information is presented to employees and customers
2. Information is treated as a company resource rather than a departmental resource
3. All information is secure
4. Information is easy to find
5. Information is easy to create and store
6. Information is made available to people only when they need it
7. Information is deleted and withdrawn when not required

Often, organizations are good at storing information (in emails, folders etc). But storage alone leads to huge problems as the volumes grow over time. Companies are not good at storing information so that it is made easily available outside of departmental boundaries, routed in a formal way and combined to present a clear, concise picture to those who need it when they need it.

Companies may also be good at buying and installing small departmental systems to manage one type of information, or for one department.

Information Management is concerned with being able to combine information from various sources, so that information is reused and not retypes and so that staff have a full range of content to hand when undertaking tasks.
When this is achieved, the benefits are quite staggering (as other parts of our web site describe).

This discipline requires people who are expert in the classification of information (taxonomists) and how best to store and give structure to “unstructured” information. This requires a holistic view of how information is used within the company, and a detailed appreciation of specific terms used and the way users “tag” information.

It requires people expert in the way that technology can be best deployed to manage information, so that information will always be kept uptodate.

It involves a knowledge of how to create information “lifecycles” so that information is managed and routed in a formal way. It also involves a knowledge of how people collaborate in teams using information, and how best to configure solutions to achieve both formal and informal requirements.

Often, this involves some pragmatic compromise between what is theoretically “best practice” and what will work in the real world.

It also involves understanding how people work and constructing systems around them.

Where Do NetMonkeys Come In?

NetMonkeys are expert in deploying technology to store information, and have staff access it – as are many other IT companies.

However, NetMonkeys different from most, because we are also Information Management experts and work with companies to make much better usage of their technology solutions with better structure and processing of the underlying information. This generally means using a complementary information management platform such as Microsoft SharePoint to provide some additional functionality such as version control, and to be able to integrate the existing systems so that information is structured and displayed to staff in a logical, consistent and easy to use way when they need it.

< back

“NetMonkeys speak to us in a language we understand”

Rob Ballantine – SJM Concerts