An Introduction to RM and IM

I work and play with RM (records management), IM (Information Management) and WCM (Web Content Management) systems…..so I can’t show my face on TV. In fact, TV would never want a guy on the air preventing the loyal viewers from their eastern European honey wrestling, and if I am to be honest I wouldn’t either.

Information Management is something that a lot of companies don’t do well. Usually it is a set of folders which are on shared drive somewhere in a folder structure that only one person only ever truly understands and can never communicate. Now let’s be clear, IM and RM systems don’t fix that problem. But they allow the control of content to be devolved closer to the ‘coal face’, That is to the information workers whose job is to fill these systems with records and information.

The issue that I have found in my experience with these kinds of systems are:

• First and foremost, the idea of ‘this information is mine’; In large organisations you usually have to sign agreements which require that all the work you do within the organisation belongs to the organisation. For a IM or RM to work effectively the organisation as a whole has to start believing that ‘their content’ is the ‘company’s content’ (This is by no means a hard and fast affair. For example HR information and commercially sensitive content would still need to be restricted e.g. unreleased Board Papers)
• It can be hard to gain traction for an IM or RM system or even a strategy because upper management does not perceive the risks and or the benefits; this is not to say that they don’t have any idea. In many cases the importance of RM (especially) can only really be conveyed via the financial risk that it poses to the company.
• The management of these systems is too centralised; You replace that folder structure which only one person understands with another one and as such works against our goal of giving the business control of their content.

Paradoxically, to get these things of the off the ground you need to a strong internal driver. Effectively you need someone who will herd the cats and create that folder structure and naming convention that no one understands.

Funny little world isn’t it 😉

Originally published at anvilation.com on September 6, 2010.