Why Organisations Cannot Justify the Effective Management of their Information Assets
Date
2014
Authors
Evans, A.
Price, J.
Editors
Grozdanic, V.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference paper
Citation
Proceedings of the European conference of management, leadership and governance (ECMLG), 2014 / Grozdanic, V. (ed./s), pp.78-85
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
European conference of management, leadership and governance (13 Nov 2014 - 14 Nov 2014 : Croatia)
Abstract
The accumulation of information in most organisations has grown with such speed and volume that they are now faced with unmanageable repositories of content of unknown value, business benefit and risk. Literature and previous research done by the authors found that data, information, content and tacit knowledge should be regarded as important organisational assets. In the global economy, these assets contribute to realising business benefit and should therefore be managed with the same rigour that money, people and equipment are managed. However, there is an overall lack of maturity when it comes to managing information as an enterprise asset to gain business advantage. Empirical research involving C level executives of organisations in Australia, South Africa and the United States found many reasons for the ineffective management of information assets. These 'barriers to Information Asset Management (IAM)' were divided into five categories, namely lack of awareness, lack of justification, management & leadership, governance and tools. This paper discusses one of the most significant reasons for ineffective IAM, namely that managers cannot justify the cost and effort of managing their organisations' information well. This lack of justification relates to various factors. For example, information is intangible and its cost and value is unknown. Furthermore, managers do not experience the impact of ineffective information management in the short term; it does not necessarily stop a business from running, which decreases its priority and encourages complacency. There is no burning platform. Furthermore, managers often only pay attention to the management and governance of data, information and knowledge if they are forced to comply with regulations and legislation. One of the most significant justification barriers is that the business benefits of effective information assets management are unknown and difficult to quantify.