Give Employees the Data they Need
March 19, 2015
A classic quandary: will it take longer to reinvent a certain proverbial wheel, or to find the documentation from the last time one of your colleagues reinvented it? That all depends on your organization’s search system. An article titled “Help Employees to ‘Upskill’ with Access to Information” at DataInformed makes the case for implementing a user-friendly, efficient data-management platform. Writer Diane Berry, not coincidentally a marketing executive at enterprise-search company Coveo, emphasizes that re-covering old ground can really sap workers’ time and patience, ultimately impacting customers. Employees simply must be able to quickly and easily access all company data relevant to the task at hand if they are to do their best work. Berry explains why this is still a problem:
“Why do organizations typically struggle with implementing these strategies? It revolves around two primary reasons. The first reason is that today’s heterogeneous IT infrastructures form an ‘ecosystem of record’ – a collection of newer, cloud-based software; older, legacy systems; and data sources that silo valuable data, knowledge, and expertise. Many organizations have tried, and failed, to centralize information in a ‘system of record,’ but IT simply cannot keep up with the need to integrate systems while also constantly moving and updating data. As a result, information remains disconnected, making it difficult and time consuming to find. Access to this knowledge often requires end-users to conduct separate searches within disconnected systems, often disrupting co-workers by asking where information may be found, and – even worse – moving forward without the knowledge necessary to make sound decisions or correctly solve the problem at hand.
“The second reason is more cultural than technological. Overcoming the second roadblock requires an organization to recognize the value of information and knowledge as a key organizational asset, which requires a cultural shift in the company.”
Fair enough; she makes a good case for a robust, centralized data-management solution. But what about that “upskill” business? Best I can tell, it seems the term is not about improving skills, but about supplying employees with resources they need to maximize their existing skills. The term was a little confusing to me, but I can see how it might be catchy. After all, marketing is the author’s forte.
Cynthia Murrell, March 19, 2015
Stephen E Arnold, Publisher of CyberOSINT at www.xenky.com
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