How is Information Management?

Back in the stone-age, it was considered a rare human skill to ignite a spark by rubbing two stones. Not many could successfully attempt it. How to ignite a spark with stones was an information that only a few possessed. Thankfully, it was easy to pass of this information to fellow primitive man and more people acquired the skill which eventually led to evolution of human beings. The passing of information was not a difficult task since the information was simple.

That the sun rises in the east and sets in the west is a phenomenon every species on earth observed. But, only man had the wisdom to take a cue out of this phenomenon and use this information to build the clock. The clock set the basis of managing time, human efficiency and work productivity that set the stage for human evolution giving birth to civilization. Having information alone is not a skill, how to manage information is what makes a good skill. The reason behind man’s evolution in to the most powerful species on earth is because human beings are good information managers.

The acquisition of information, efficient way of storing the acquired information, systematic and ethical way of dissipation and proper disposition of it once the purpose of having it has been fulfilled is called Information Management. 

The primitive man acquired more knowledge and started using signs to write on stones and tree leaves to record and store information for later use. This method evolved after paper was invented. For centuries, we used papers and books to document information. But the invention of computer changed the way we humans record, store and disseminate information.

On 6^th August 1991, the World Wide Web was made open to public after a pivotal change in public policy on internet.  There wasn’t much global media fanfare and only a few knew about its consequential path breaking impact and what the future holds. In less than a decade, the World Wide Web led to a boom in dotcom companies and profuse information in the form of products and services began to flow across the world.

Times have changed, and we have been ushered in to the digital age where the gargantuan flow of information comes in all forms and shapes. That like on Facebook or twitter, those comment threads, videos, email and instant messaging, thousands of videos, hundreds of thousands of photos, millions of apps, you name it, are all forms of information that flow across the web.

For large enterprises like Facebook, Google or Microsoft, every single piece of information amid the humongous amount of information that they possess is important. These enterprises generally build or/and employ information systems and software that help them deal with their data and works efficiently. Even medium and small scale businesses or local stores consider the information that they acquire important for carrying out daily operations, interacting with customers, ensuring smooth transactions among other things. These entities use information systems based on the size of information that they possess, their budget and the purpose of keeping it. The aim of information systems is to optimize the recording of information, storing, categorizing, accessing and searching it in a way that satisfies the purpose of everyone associated with it.

As per sciencedaily.com, 90% of today’s information (data) was created over last two years. As the data accumulated is growing leaps and bounds, the challenges to manage information are also proportionally growing. Information systems ensure that the gap between demands and supply is kept close. The challenges that companies are facing are not limited to information systems and the technical aspects of it. Information management goes far beyond the technical problems, it touches base on the management side of it. Technology can be managed by putting in expertise but technology cannot replace human resources. Information managers put people at the core of their company culture and technology takes the backseat. Because information is stored for people to use.

Robots can never replace employees to run a company. The ability to take thoughtful and rational decisions based on strategic goals is a trait a computer program cannot pass off to a machine.

Hence, information management is a skill of leading and managing teams, negotiating with clients, acquiring new customers, fulfilling customer needs, ensuring support and customer satisfaction that drive the organization towards its ultimate cause. An organization, profit or non-profit, is incomplete without proficient information managers that put people first.

Information management is of the people, for the people and by the people.

Data is The New Oil

Oil has traditionally been considered the most valuable asset for the last few centuries. But the most important commodity could be replaced by data. The arrival of the computer and subsequent evolution of internet has snowballed the human reliance on technology and given birth to the importance of data. The top five giants, the Big Daddies of the tech world - Apple, Amazon Facebook, Google, Microsoft - know more about your daily interaction with gadgets than you yourself do. These companies are collecting a humongous amount of data of tens of millions of users every single day.

Image credit: Slideshare

When you use Google Maps, you are unknowingly sharing your location info with Google and the data is combined with more users like you to recognize traffic patterns. When a lot of vehicles are moving slowly along the same street, the map can suggest you a faster route. So it is your data and that of your fellow drivers that enable Google to make maps effective. YouTube can predict your video preferences based on your location, trends, popularity and your search history. Google Assistant is evolving the way tech companies leverage the data they collect.  Google itself has shared this information  here . 

Data is to Google what Oxygen is to a human body.

The primary job of an advertiser is to optimize every single dollar that they spend on marketing campaigns. To keep the marketing expense under check, it is vital that the advertisement reaches the right set of audiences. The record of data helps in gauging customer behavior and in targeting people who may be interested in your product.

Data is the wheel that drives the advertiser’s car. 

Facebook knows what you do across the web even when you’re logged out. It keeps a track on the sites you visit, the times of it and shows you adverts accordingly. All this is done in the name of giving you a “personalized experience”. The company generates the majority of its revenue from the data it collects from its 2 billion users. 

The ‘free’ service that we use from Google or Facebook is not actually free. Each website (or an app) that we use, each page we view on the internet is recorded. We are living behind our digital footprints and tech companies are able to capitalize on it and monetize our data.  If the product is available to you for free, you’re the product!

Keeping the cons aside, the availability of data has changed the human relationship with technology. Self-driving cars wouldn't have existed without the availability of maps, the data of human behavior on roads among other things. We wouldn't be able to make weather predictions and plan ahead without the availability of data. Data Visualization is the best way to communicate a story and put out facts in a way that captures human interests. The world has become organized and the quality of life has drastically improved because of the availability data of the population at large.

Data has become the most important element on the planet but it needs to be ethically extracted, refined, distributed and monetized. Like the way, oil has driven growth and produced wealth for powerful nations, the next wave of growth will be driven by data. 

Image credit: The Economist

Fetching the data is no more a primary challenge. How we make products, solve human problems and use data in a constructive will define the next way of technology.  Oil has evolved the world into a better place by creating an enormous amount of wealth and prosperity. Data perhaps holds the similar potential and is already responsible for creating four out of five most valuable brands in the world.

Data is to the Information age what oil has been for the industrial age.

The phrase in the title was coined by UK mathematician Clive Humby in 2006.