Information Management
Definitions
Ask 25 specialists for a definition and you will get at least 26 results.
I feel most comfortable with the term information management. In addition to other primary assets such as raw materials, infrastructure, facilities, and personnel, information is essential. Without that understanding, nothing happens and everyone walks around like a headless chicken.
There is a movement that wants to distinguish between structured information and unstructured information. Things like a logistics ERP system or a CRM system are considered structured data because everything is quantified and/or normalized to an almost molecular level. You can mainly calculate with these systems. Even to the extent that computers can communicate with each other.
For example, if your stock has decreased to a certain threshold value, you can automatically order new ones. This requires no manpower and prevents errors.
When we talk about files (files), the term unstructured data is used. This kind of information is processed with ECM systems (Enterprise Content Management) and there are even movements that think that if you add Business Intelligence to the palette, then there is EIM (Enterprise Information Management).
An organization of 1000 people is effortlessly able to manage 5 million documents. It’s not just about formal letters created in MS Word or Excel or PowerPoint. For example, we accept that a Whatsapp message from a manager can initiate a process. Also consider the piles of email generated per day/month/year.
Yet you see that techniques such as normalization and structuring add more and more value to systems for unstructured data.
Photos are files (files/documents) where you can do nothing with the best will in the world with a full-text search. Drawings (Cad Cam), music files also something like that. It is precisely through techniques such as modeling/normalizing and classifying that it is also possible to make models or photos of a certain subject retrievable. Someone has to make the effort to add attributes/keywords/tags as soon as a file is saved. Spotify has managed to store 70 million unstructured data files in such a way that a user finds what the person is looking for in just a few clicks.
This is the area in which I can make an important contribution. Overview, structure, and coordination.
information management; look at the entire landscape and make sure that all systems “understand” each other. Unstructured data is no reason to make a mess of it.
Me
Coverage
Collaboration
Document Management
The path from a vague idea to an approved document
Capture
Managing digital-born content outside in & transfer of hard copy to digital
Content Allocation & Geo-location
Digital Asset Management
It’s not only about text files. Pictures, audio, (CadCam) models, etc. are part of an organizations information too
Classification
Structuring the unstructured to enable automation.
Records Management
Make sure that content that provides proof is kept unchanged for the duration of the retention period.
Web Content Management
The most commonly used way of expressing message. It needs a different approach than the “classic library”.
Workflow
Connecting people to information. If it’s dumb enough, let a computer do the work.