Are You An Informationist?

I saw it again this morning.  I was presenting to a customer, and it came up again.  The customer was a smart guy, worked for a great company, they had a well-run IT shop.

And there it was -- I call it The Question.

"We've got hundreds of terabytes of information -- and it's just stuff -- what do we have, what do we do with it, and why does it matter?".

Once again, I saw a technologist edging towards becoming an informationist.

What?

Look at it this way ... we've all spent our careers very enamored with what technology can do.  We love servers, and networks, and software, and mobile devices, and ... well, you get the picture. 

I'm the same way -- it's all very cool.

But somehow, many of us lost sight as to why we did all that technology stuff in the first place.  It was about the information, remember?  Getting the right information to the right people so they can make better decisions. 

We even call it IT, but somehow maybe lost sight of the "I" in "IT".

Maybe we thought the information belonged to the business.  They knew about what information they had, why it was important, how to use it best, right?   Certainly not an IT challenge ...

You, over there, stop laughing please!

We can identify who own the technology portfolio, but who owns the information portfolio?

So, what does an informationist do?

So, in the spirit of enlightening thoughts that can help us do our work better, let me attempt an partially-baked description of what an informationist does:

• An informationist understands the context of different kinds of information: why it was created, how it's used today -- ultimately, understand the value of information in a business context.
     
• An informationist understands the risks associated with different kinds of information: the risk of losing, of not having it available, of inadvertantly allowing to leak outside the organization, and so on.
     
• An informationist understands the opportunity associated with unlocking additional value of existing information, whether that's correlating it in new ways, or presenting to new parts of the business, or something similar.

The informationist knows about the why, and less about the how -- this person isn't really a specialist in the specific technologies, that's the job of the technologist. 

My favorite example ... again!

As an example, take email. 

• An informationist would understand exactly how email is used to support different business processes. 
   
• An informationist would understand the risks associated with mishandling or misusing email.
     
• And an informationist would also understand how information in email could be enhanced through archiving, searching, or correlating with other kinds of information, maybe about customers.

They could articulate in clear business terms exactly why email is important to the business, and not an individual business function.  They could give the technologists direction on how to think about email from a business perspective, and how to evaluate various approaches to email in a larger context.

Just to put a bit more reality into the discussion, I talk to customers about email mgmt all the time, and I haven't found one yet that can articulate the overall business picture for email (or messaging, or blogging, or ...)

We get what we ask for

So, if you're with me so far, how would such a role be constructed?  And what would it do?

I would think that this role needs to sit in an organization that spans different business functions -- most likely at a senior level in IT. 

Ideally, they wouldn't get bogged down into arcane discussions around master data management, or knowledge management -- those are specific focus areas and projects that require dedicated skills -- the informationist can frame why these are important discussions to have, but doesn't get wrapped into a big project that wrestles with the how.

So, let me ask you this.  Does this make sense? 

Do modern businesses need an informationist? 

And are you in the process of becoming one?

Comments

[backupwizard]

Finally - someone has defined my business role to a "T" - I'm an informationist.

Sarcasm aside, Chuck is exactly right. The world needs more informationist(s). I deal all day with "clients" that are experts at bits and pieces of their ILM strategy; backup experts, file-systems experts, archive experts. Don't get me wrong, these folks are essential cogs.

But I rarely meet a visionary leader that truly understands not just the tools and the (agonizing) protection process but the implications of cradle-to-grave data management. True, most IT leaders still spend their time fire fighting, but you'll need to head to MY blog to read more about that. (Thanks Chuck for the free link - http://backupwizard.typepad.com )

We need more informationist in this world!

[Ed Teune]

Yes, modern businesses definitely need informationists.
And I think many people with the right vision see this either in their own IT organization or in their customers' IT organizations.
But few of them see this role as a "need to have". Most see it as "nice to have" and therefore just never makes it into the budget or the job descriptions of the right people.
Chuck, my question back to you is this: do you try to convince your customers during the EMC sales cycle that this is a "need to have" role and how do EMC's products and services help enable such a role in your customers' IT organizations? How do you sell such an idea and how do you implement it at EMC? As a Presales Solutions Architect working in the software and IT services sector, that is what I would really love to hear about in your blog.

Thanks,

Ed Teune

[Chuck Hollis]

Hi Ed -- great questions!

I've been arguing that it's more of a mindset rather than an official role -- we all have to increase our sensitivity and awareness around the importance of information -- how it can be used to make money, save money or stay out of trouble.

Perhaps the best analogy I can offer is how we think about money in a corporate environment. Even though we have people with designated roles to understand budgets, finance, accounting, etc. -- we all are expected to have a basic understanding of how money needs to be handled in a corporate environment.

Over time, the concept of "informationist" has evolved to an even bigger challenge -- how do we establish a new discipline of information governance in the enterprise?

Yes, it's great that we all can get the informationist mindset, but EMC would argue that there's a key corporate function missing -- a centralized board with cross-functional representation to hammer through basic policies and measurement.

In most enterprises, it's pretty clear who owns the money. But who owns the information, and has responsibility for all of its aspects?

Thanks for the questions!

[Ed Teune]

Hi Chuck,
thanks for the speedy response, and these are great ideas!

I guess I would like a bit more insight in how the rubber meets the road and how these ideas can be applied in an organization.
For example, how does EMC implement them both internally and externally with its customers?

I hope that is ok to ask. I am very interested in these concepts and have had opportunity to address them in previous positions that I have held and would like some insight into how EMC does it.
And if you have any insights into the sales side of things at EMC, even better! (since that is my current position)

thanks,

Ed

[Stephen Ashley]

I have always liked this post, interesting to see it is still generating discussion.

I agree with Ed that in many organisations such a person probably should sit in IT, but they often don't exist as managing information is secondary to managing infrastructure and a desktop environment. Even where a data or information management role exists they are often seen as low level technical people not business people

My take on the Informationist is someone who bridges the gap between the business and technology (not necessarily IT). They understand their companies' specific business, its goals, its objectives and key processes and understand and articulate what information and infrastructure is required to enable those processes. Someone who enables the value in the information, while understand the business and regulatory requirements to manage risk and cost.

Happy to have a conversation on the ways you might implement these ideas

[Chuck Hollis]

Wow -- to have a post from 2006 unearthed and re-examined, it's a bit like intellectual archeology!

I think I'm going to revisit this topic, since a lot has happend in the few years since I first wrote this.

Thanks for commenting, folks!

-- Chuck