The future of information management
| Date | 30 March 2010 |
| Pages | 61-71 |
| Published date | 30 March 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09565691011039834 |
| Author | David P. Best |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
The future of information
management
David P. Best
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the future of information management.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses the trends in information management that
were current at the time of its original publication, and makes suggestions as to what the future might
hold.
Findings – The critical areas of information transfer and storage must be closely and accurately
defined for each system. The differences between departments and corporate information must be
carefully distinguished, and where possible minimised. Areas where there may be conflict between
local and corporate information systems must be carefully circumscribed. Mechanisms must be put in
place to monitor the information autonomy of units, divisions or departments.
Originality/value – Systems for information management must take account of the need to control,
value, and measure the flow of information and to audit the systems which process it. The way ahead
for information management is to develop techniques and tools in the areas of administering and
accounting for information which will allow general management to guide the use and development of
information in the same way that they guide the use and development of the other resources of the
business.
Keywords Information management, Informationtransfer, Archives
Paper type Conceptual paper
Information management (IM) can be defined as: “The economic, efficient and effective
coordination of the production, control, storage, retrieval and dissemination of
information from external and internal sources, in order to improve the performance of
the organisation” (modified after White, 1985).
To this extent IM can be considered as a methodical attempt to prevent knowledge
being lost in information. As T.S. Eliot asked: “Where is the knowledge we have lost in
information?”
Information – a manageable resource?
The idea of information as a resource to be developed, used, reused and traded as, for
example, water, minerals, land or power, has gained currency in recent years, as shown
by a spate of publications and popularised by Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave (1983),
in which he postulated a third period of “industrialisation” based on the industry of
information. Hard on the heels of this rash of publications came job titles containing
allusions to information management; Information Resource Manager, Information
Co-ordinator, etc. This has been especially true in the USA, where the Information
Centre or Information Resource Centre has been created, often at corporate level, with a
management reporting to the chief executive officer.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
This article was originally published in Records Management Journal, Vol. 2. No. 2, pp. 50-60
(1990), and has been republished as part of the journal’s 20th anniversary commemorative issue.
The future of
information
management
61
Records Management Journal
Vol. 20 No. 1, 2010
pp. 61-71
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/09565691011039834
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