CEOs Are Clueless About What Their Information Managers Actually Do

UK business heads have no idea what their information managers do, with over half of information managers wondering what business leaders actually want from them.

The startling findings come from info management company Iron Mountain, unsurprisingly, but they do show the disconnect businesses have these days with their records and information.

Obstacle

“In today’s knowledge-driven world our study has revealed an unexpected obstacle on the road towards return on information,” said Sue Trombley, a director at Iron Mountain. That obstacle does indeed seem to be a massive lack of understanding in companies about what information managers actually do, or perhaps, cannot do.

The study, plucked from a sample size of 900 businesses, found that 89 percent of UK business ‘leaders’ are clueless about what their information managers do. In return, 56 percent of UK records and information managers admit they don’t know exactly what senior business leaders want and need from information – with 66 per cent confused about the information needs of colleagues in marketing, manufacturing, finance and other departments.

Iron Mountain pointed towards bad communication being the issue here. TechWeekEurope reckons, however, that with the speed of development for new ways of information managing and funnelling documents and records through the bureaucracy, business leaders just can’t keep up with the pace of change.

“Business leaders need to better understand what records and information managers can contribute; at the same time information professionals need to align more closely with business needs,” said Trombley.

Iron Mountain quizzed business decision makers and records and information managers at 900 organisations with between 250 and 999 employees, within the healthcare, public sector, retail, legal, financial services/insurance, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and energy sectors, in the UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany and in the US.

On top of this, the survey also found that two thids of business leaders are confused about the information needs of colleagues in marketing, manufacturing and finance.

Trombley said: “The gap is created by a lack of understanding and poor communication rather than inability to deliver.”

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