Benefits of information management

The Information Management Project Board discussed the benefits of good IM and asked IMLG (Information Managers Leaders Group) to contribute their ideas.

The final list has seven headings:

• Improved leverage/ ROI of the organisation's technology investments
• Improved leverage/ ROI of 3rd party information products across the whole organisation
• Increased efficiency - right information/ right time
• Improved effectiveness/ performance - right information/right time
• Sustained responsiveness and competitiveness
• Enhanced creativity and innovation
• Ensured Compliance (Legal and regulatory)

Improved leverage/ROI of the organisation’s technology investments

• Reduced costs of information processing – saves money
• Supports a better focused investment in IT - improves ROI on information investment
• Better information storage, sharing and re-use of knowledge and information saves time and money
• Reduces time and effort expended on searching for and managing information; combined with increased ability to find data. – relieves pressure on time/resources

Improved leverage/ROI of 3rd party information products across the whole organisation

• Slick information flows improve efficiency of processes and faster responses
• Evidence base (intellectual and structural capital) improves in quality and is accessible and exploitable
• Organisation and staff achieve more through ready access to knowledge and information, producing quicker response times and increasing capability

Increased Efficiency – right information/right time

• Drives efficiency and service improvement
• Leads to faster and more efficient decision-making inside and outside organisations by ability to exploit existing knowledge and information.
• Saves time and costs through re-using information and replicating best practice
• Reduces/eliminates duplication of effort; avoiding “reinventing the wheel”.
• Reduces waste and improves value for money; Do more with the same/less
• Fosters a professional approach to business processes

Improved Effectiveness / performance -– right information/right time

• Increased capability – to exploit information capital – to plan and perform effectively
• Better management decision making - enables faster, more informed (evidence based) decisions
• Increased enterprise agility and responsiveness to potential changes and challenges
• Enables better intelligence on customers, improves responsiveness to customers, and improves customer perceptions /reputation
• Achieves better outcomes helped by the use of appropriate information and improving information flows
• Improves performance through information sharing and collaboration between staff and teams and stakeholders
• Supports professional networks across organisations and with external contacts
• Creates an engaged and motivated workforce
• Reduces information overload

Sustained responsiveness and competitiveness

• Easy access to and improved ways of working with information enables a faster, more flexible and proactive response to external factors
• Provides correct context for business improvement activity

Enhanced creativity and Innovation

• Innovation in products and services stimulated through access to information and informed collaboration
• Information stimulates the creativity and innovation that the economy and society need for progress.
• Information easily explored for new insights – leveraging information assets