Early Days for Information Management
May 21, 2009
In the last two weeks, I have been crisscrossing the United States. On last night’s fab flight from Philadelphia to Louisville, I watched the lights and thought about the comments I heard about data management. I have to mask the clients with whom I spoke and fuzzify the language, but I think I can communicate several key points.
Search Is a Symptom, Not the Cause
One idea that hooked me was an observation about search and the turmoil and confusion it creates and leaves behind once a new system is up and running. Search is not the problem. Search is a manifestation of the organization’s broader information management situation. If information management is lousy, then search will be lousy as well. The problem is that fixing information management in an organization under financial pressure is a big job. Furthermore, it involves change which is often resisted when job loss and work responsibilities are likely. It’s much easier to slap in a new search system and move on. Unfortunately, search gets another black eye and a vendor can be criticized, sometimes in a scathing manner, because the information management approach was flawed, broken, or non existent.
Fatigue or diabetes?
No Clue about Volume
Most of the people with whom I spoke sang one verse from one hymnal, “We have no clue about our data. We don’t know how much info we have. We are lost in bits. We are lost in bits. We are clueless.”
Most of the savvy information technology professionals know that the volume of digital information is increasing. The problem is that no one knows exactly how fast, what to do with the emails and documents, or how to keep track of what’s where. The Abbott and Costello routine “Who’s on First?” anticipates the statements about the hassle information volume poses.
One doesn’t need a degree in information science to recognize that if you can’t collect digital information, you don’t have much of a chance answering this question: “Are you sure we don’t have that document?” Finding is now becoming a must have function, and the Catch 22 is that most organizations don’t have a grasp on the amount of data in the organization or where an item is, search becomes a bit tougher.
How big is the information task?
A Quick Fix
One theme ran through my meetings: The quick fix. Everyone wanted a television drama solution. Within 45 minutes, the problem has to be solved. I am not sure why the quick fix is so appealing. Most of the organizations have multiple quick fixes in place. One outfit had tried five in the last 24 months and still could not find information without time consuming and inefficient manual methods.
Quick fixes work for home repairs but not for information management problems.
What’s This Mean?
I think there is good news and bad news associated with these three points.
First, the good news.
I think that organizations, despite the lousy economy, are willing to spend money on solutions that can help with findability challenges. I think that the grip some vendors have had on organizations is beginning to slip. Google, for example, is one beneficiary of this shift. The Google Search Appliance is perceived as what some users want and it is indeed a quick fix. Not a cure, but a bondo job.
Now, the bad news.
I think organizations will grab whatever comes along with a slick demo. This means that there will be quite a bit of marketing baloney shoved into the organizational meat grinder. The costs of these knee jerk buys will be high amplitude employee and user reactions.
My thought is that the optimal way to move forward is to knuckle down and tackle the hard problem. I am not too keen on quick fixes. They don’t often work out as planned. Exciting times ahead as the volume of digital information continues to grow at 2X to 4X per year in many organizations.
It’s tough to move forward with search and text mining, when the basics of collecting the digital information in one “place” elude most organizations.
Stephen Arnold, May 21, 20098
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2 Responses to “Early Days for Information Management”
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I like to ask the following questions (to an individual):
– have you ever lost (been unable to find when you need it) a document on your personal computer?
– how much training as a catalog librarian do you have?
– how would you like to stand up in front of your peers & explain your personal (computer) filing system?
David Eddy,
The goslings at Beyond Search can’t find their feathers without multiple systems, azure chip consultants, and 30 year old pundits.
Stephen Arnold, May 23, 2009