“Employees suffering from information overload tune out and check out.”[1]
The realities of modern work have forced organizations to rapidly adapt to new ways of working, as well as new risks. To master modern work, organizations must do more than simply manage the high volumes of information generated day to day, they must also assess how their information management strategy impacts both employees and customers. When properly harnessed, information can help organizations to anticipate trends and outmaneuver the competition. The organizations that achieve the greatest success will be those able to leverage their information to drive business transformation. Information management is essential to mastering modern work in several ways:
- Reduce risk: Information Management means knowing where all content, particularly risky content, can be found. By controlling content sprawl and ensuring all information and devices are securely managed, both on and off-cloud, organizations not only support productivity but also safeguard their data. This ensures compliance and helps to avoid risks of reputational damage, or worse.
- Support seamless collaboration: Ensuring employees can access necessary data anytime and anywhere makes remote and hybrid teamwork friction-free. Ensuring a seamless connection between content and process, with business-critical data integrated directly into key workflows, breaks down information silos to speed and smooth both the employee and the customer experience.
- Facilitate frictionless employee experiences: To master modern work, organizations must provide a modern user experience and streamlined business processes that simplify decision-making. In the wake of the great resignation, productivity is not the only critical metric. Attracting and retaining top talent is also vital to an organization’s success. To succeed, organizations must value employees’ experience of work, not only the customer experience. Eliminating time wasted searching for content across disparate repositories, automating repetitive, mundane processes, and eliminating duplicate tasks through integration will improve the employee experience and will in turn positively impact the customer experience.
- Improve operational experience: Operational experience is the bridge spanning the employee’s experience as a worker and the customer’s experience interacting with the business. Effective information management makes the connection seamless, putting critical information at employees’ fingertips to facilitate great customer experiences.
Gartner found that “50% of employees reported struggling to find the right information or people to do the job, or an ever-increasing volume of tasks. They are so overwhelmed, they can no longer see the bigger picture; they cannot spot changes in customer needs[2].” Certainly, effective information management improves employees’ day-to-day experience by reducing time wasted searching for critical information. However, by helping track and manage both business and customer needs, information management also benefits customers and drives business results.
What do you need for successful information management?
- Integration to drive performance: The number of applications organizations rely on for day-to-day operations is on the rise and showing no sign of slowing down. Because business processes must span multiple applications and data sources, integration is vital. Weaving information into business processes delivers information when and where it’s needed to increase productivity and create connections that spark insight, facilitating innovation.
- Automation to boost efficiency: Effective information management enables business process automation, allowing organizations to optimize workflows for faster ROI, making decision-making faster and simpler by enriching content with actionable insights and providing real-time analysis of operational efficiency. Eliminating manual and duplicate effort results in fewer errors and more engaging user experiences.
- Information governance to mitigate risk: While cybersecurity is crucial, information governance is equally important. Managing where and how sensitive content is stored creates a foundation of information security to minimize risk.
- Support from a trusted partner: Mastering modern work requires more than just choosing the right technology. Working with a strategic partner can be crucial to maximizing the business value of your information and streamlining business processes.
How can you get started on the path to smarter information?
Start by defining the information management vision for your business, then develop a strategy to achieve it. This will ensure that technology investments are chosen to align with long-term business priorities. For most organizations, this will mean streamlining business processes through integration and shifting toward cloud infrastructure.
Are you ready to master modern work with smarter information?
Discover 5 best practices to prepare your organization for information-led transformation.
[1] Gartner, Business Quarterly: Help Your Talent Keep Transformation on Track, Cian Ó Móráin and Peter Aykens, First quarter 2023.
[2] Gartner, Business Quarterly: Help Your Talent Keep Transformation on Track, Cian Ó Móráin and Peter Aykens, First quarter 2023.
