Information management challenges businesses face today

With the new business environment characterised by uncertainty, your business needs to be ready to react quickly when challenges arise or new opportunities present themselves. To do this, your business needs to be able to access its information quickly. 

Businesses today are embracing a connected world where most operations happen in a digital context. Often though, it is assumed that implementing digital processes automatically brings your organisation closer to managing information efficiently and ensuring it meets compliance requirements. However, this is not necessarily the case. 

Many of the obstacles and difficulties that existed with printed documents and physical files are still prevalent in a digital environment. For example, many workers save documents on their desktops, in their email inboxes, or in network file shares. This can lock information into silos, making it impossible for the team to collaborate effectively or get the documents they need in a timely fashion. It can also potentially expose the information to unauthorised users because access isn’t fully controlled. 

There are also added complexities to consider as new information is being created exponentially. However, standardising information management internally remains challenging due to lack of subject matter expertise. This can result in an overwhelming tide of information that exposes your business to governance and compliance risks. Importantly, this information can’t be used to streamline processes or improve productivity; instead, it just sits passively where it’s stored, failing to deliver value. 

Considerations for digital transformation

Many organisations are aware that they have information management challenges. However, understanding how to address these challenges can, in itself, be challenging for these businesses. Many succumb to technology trends, implementing the latest content management solutions or file share approaches without critically examining their information management structure and understanding how to transform effectively. This invariably results in new systems that carry the same issues as legacy systems, which means the business has failed to achieve a strong return on investment. 

To transform effectively, you need to gain an intimate understanding of your business’s informational processes and practices. This includes mapping your information ecosystem, then designing a roadmap towards Intelligent Information Management (IIM). Failing to do so means that new technologies will simply inherit the same difficulties as those legacy applications and approaches. 

As remote and hybrid working models become more widely adopted, having a strong IIM approach in place is essential for organisations to thrive. Workers need to be able to quickly and easily create, store, access, and manage information no matter where it’s located. Establishing operational protocols and implementing a content management solution is key to being able to maintain, structure, and capture information from across your business. Without putting this solution in place, digital information complexities can be exacerbated. 

Some of the challenges businesses face without a proper information management solution include: 

• using email as a de-facto information management system, which hinders business transparency and accurate recordkeeping
• struggles with network sharing that potentially expose business, client, and employee information
• difficulties migrating and integrating projects in a timely fashion  
• compromised ability to support the requirements of remote and hybrid work models, including the sharing of resources, documents, and internal applications
• unnecessary time and resources spent on manual tasks. 

Digital transformation initiatives can be daunting for any business. It requires business self-reflection, identifying procedural gaps and tasks that can be digitalised, understanding the new technologies, and educating employees. 

By working with a digital transformation specialist you can move towards an intelligent approach to information management. IIM can address these challenges and create an environment in which your business can fully leverage all of its data and information for positive business outcomes. 

Some of the benefits that an IIM solution can help your business achieve include: 

• automating information and document management, governance, and compliance tasks
• standardising how documents and information are managed across the business 
• turning paper-based, manual processes into digital workflows, saving time and resources 
• eliminating information siloes and improving project and document transparency 
• improving information access for in-office, remote, and hybrid workers
• strengthening information security and access management. 

Contact the team at Konica Minolta today for more information on how we can help your business adopt IIM, improve your information management and governance, and make your organisation more efficient and productive.