Abstract
The information profession today
As editors of Business Information Review (BIR), we believe passionately in the value of information and knowledge management skills to organizations of all types. Many of our editorials have focused on this value and how to achieve it. Understanding your organization’s strategy and operations so that services reflect its priorities; partnering with those whose information needs are the most critical – and with senior stakeholders; ensuring that the value of information and information skills is understood at the top of the organization and recognized in business planning; and delivering and developing services of essential value that cannot be obtained elsewhere. We were not then surprised by the findings reported in what we believe is 2013’s most important report for those involved in information service provision: The Evolving Value of Information Management and Five Essential Attributes of the Modern Information Professional, see http://ftcorporate.ft.com/sla/.
The report, published by the UK’s Financial Times (FT), presents findings from a research study commissioned by the FT in conjunction with the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The initiative, undertaken via survey and some in-depth interviews, explored the views of both full-time knowledge (information) professionals and corporate executives in organizations that have dedicated information departments. Although the majority of survey respondents were information professionals, 17 per cent were executives, in private and public sector organizations, who used information provided by their knowledge/information centre.
The report makes for salutary reading. Results demonstrate a significant gap between the user and service provider perceptions of the value provided by a mediated information service. ‘Overall, 55% of knowledge providers say they add “a lot of value”, yet only 34% of executives are willing to say the same’. 1 Findings contrast user frustration with information overload, the effort required to sift out relevant information from that provided, together with their needs for currency and timeliness with the concerns of the knowledge professionals. Users need up to date decision-ready information. Knowledge professionals see themselves as being bypassed in favour of Google. They perceive that their organizations do not fully understand their capability in searching subscription sources or the value of high quality information; they fear the associated probability of organizational risk from poor information. Information resources are continually pressured downwards whilst professionals try to meet organizational expectations. The function is challenged to demonstrate value for money.
Whilst the majority of those expressing views were based in North America, some of its findings do complement those of the 2013 Business Information Survey, Foster (2013). This survey analyses detailed interviews with information managers in the UK’s corporate sector, often operating in global companies. Findings indicated that many information services are being downsized, that their value is being questioned more, and that, as new and recent graduates enter work, they consider themselves to be self-sufficient in information research and information management. The survey highlights the importance of reducing ‘the organizational distance between information managers and Board level executives who have little awareness or interest in information and knowledge assets’ (Foster, 2013: 3) and the criticality ‘of taking on other valued roles in the business or to create them, going beyond traditional definitions’ (Foster, 2013: 10).
The tension between the information professionals’ view of their value and that of their parent organization is an ongoing challenge. One is tempted to say – ‘we only have ourselves to blame’ but this is a little harsh given the economic climate. Nevertheless we have to step up to the challenge and be both positive and realistic about our actual and potential value. If our organizations do not see value in what we do, this is a signal that we have to review our products and services. It is not just a problem of communication, although the FT/SLA work states that communication together with proactively identifying needs of internal stakeholders, and providing decision-ready information are rated (by all respondents) as the most important attributes for modern information professionals. ‘These are also among the areas with the largest shortfalls in performance ratings between users and providers, so information professionals should focus on improving these attributes above all others’. 2 Positively the report states that 49 per cent of information users expect the level of interaction and engagement between knowledge providers and senior management to increase in the next three years. The report’s call to action sees knowledge professionals as becoming: multi-skilled; outward looking and proactive; capable of distilling and validating; a coach to others to self-serve better; integrated within the organization; reporting clear metrics linked to strategy; and operating outside their comfort zone. There is much to learn from this research and the most important factors are to understand your organization and its drivers and to maintain a relevant skills base.
Standing on the shoulders of giants
The FT/SLA and Business Information Review surveys provide incontrovertible evidence that in this rapidly changing world it is dangerous to stand still and imperative that the developments we plan are the best for our customers and the organization in which we work. The truly innovative brain is, however, rare. So, how can we improve practice through learning from our peers? Many of us develop to some degree by noting and adapting the activities of others to our situation and your editors have found that understanding how ‘others do it good’ provides the quickest route to innovation and improvement. Visits to other organizations never fail to stimulate ideas for change; if only because exploring the services and processes of other business information services forces scrutiny of your own service provision. Case material, conferences, networking events, social networking and reading are other routes for gaining access and insight to the experiences of others. The challenge then is to put the right new ideas into practice!
This issue of BIR contains three excellent case studies from which to learn about implementation, one dealing with Information Management (IM) at the London Legacy Development Corporation, one (a second article from KPMG) with realizing the benefits from implementing an enterprise-wide social collaboration platform and the approach taken to the management of change and the third is concerned with determining how to devolve control of IT project prioritization to non-IT leaders within Tullow Oil. All three are full of useful advice. All three demonstrate the benefit of establishing an effective partnership with knowledge and information creators and users; of operating with extensive knowledge of the business context in which you work; and of involving professionals in other parts of the organization in supporting, or even making, decisions on priorities. In addition the KPMG and London Legacy Development Corporation examples are concerned with applying information and knowledge management skills to contribute to/enable the effectiveness of people in their organizations through developing constructive knowledge and information work environments and both signal work opportunities for information professionals to consider. The Tullow Oil solution to project prioritization is easily transferrable to an information services environment.
Managing information in a dynamic organization
What could be more exciting and daunting than ensuring that information and knowledge transfer happens well as organizations morph into new structures and responsibilities? This is the challenge faced by the London Legacy Development Corporation – the successor to the UK’s Olympic Development Authority (plus others) and itself moving from an initial transformation to a post-transformation phase. There are so many lessons from this work: Never assuming that the problem you are presented with is the one you need to solve to start with. Finding ways to quantify the problem can ensure that you can cut it down to a manageable size – information and data auditing can be very effective in doing so. Approaching problems from the perspective of information and knowledge users and creators is another good lesson. Labelling a programme of work on information organization and standards as ‘finding information’ is an inspired choice. Who does not want to make this easier for themselves? And who would not turn up to a discussion to explore their practical difficulties in locating what they need? Containing standards to the practical minimum maximizes the likelihood of them being followed, particularly if you implement first with a group that is likely to ‘soft sell’ to other colleagues. Fundamental to the success of this information services team has been the creation of and building on a coherent set of information and knowledge definitions and principles; the ability to work with colleagues in groups and in one-to-one sessions; and an iterative approach to problem solving with a passion to learn and build on work experience. Constantly learning from the business and professional colleagues and peers is something any information services or knowledge management team can do!
Success factors for social collaboration
The aim of KPMG’s social collaboration platform, the Hub, is to embed social collaboration across member firms as indicated in Hughes and Chapel (2013). The Hub enables people to connect easily so that they can share ideas and expertise and create more effectively together. Its deployment provides many lessons in how to introduce a tool whose adoption can build and support new ways of working in which collaboration becomes instinctive. Cultivating behavioural change is often heralded as difficult. KPMG’s experience to date confirms that it is possible, given adherence to some critical success factors: secure senior manager sponsorship and advocacy with tangible evidence of genuine value that will convince them of the need for implementation in their sphere of operation; focus on the benefits of new organizational capability rather than the availability of a new tool or technique; give sponsors and business owners responsibility for communication and driving adoption; provide materials to support roll-out and to achieve sufficient consistency of implementation; equip a central team to support business owners in their task; if rules are needed, for example, for managing risk and security – make them simple to follow; behavioural change can be fostered by enunciating desired behaviours and their anticipated outcomes in business terms; capture feedback to refine your activities; remember that transformational change takes time.
These success factors ring true for many other situations where information and knowledge professionals are introducing new tools and services.
Harnessing knowledge and experience for IT project prioritization
Working in an organization whose leader believes that ‘the combination of personal integrity, innovative thinking and working together will produce superior results’ demands a change oriented mind-set. In being seen as an integral part of their organization, information systems professionals share similar challenges to information services staff – being seen to speak a different language is one! Securing agreement on priorities for investment is another. Tullow Oil’s Information Systems team has taken the bold step of handing over responsibility for project prioritization to a number of executives from different areas of the company, believing that assembling a group with a breadth of experience would ensure business-led decisions based on business value even if the individuals concerned had little technical expertise. The process devised to enable this group to apply their experience to steer IT development centres on assessing the ‘strategic fit’ of potential projects with the strategic priorities of the business. Taking into account the ease of implementation of each project provides a clear overall view of the project portfolio as a basis for focused decision making: a simple and effective mechanism with which to engage senior managers.
Service Science
Having heard Yvonne de Grandbois speak at Online Information 2011 we were determined to publish an article on Service Science, now often named Service science, management, and engineering (SSME). The subject was completely new to us but the logic of its scope and its relevance to information services was interesting and exciting. The article in this issue explains why and how service science has come about and argues its relevance to information professionals. The concept of services as processes or products that one organization does for another is of immediate relevance to business information provision. The principle that service provision involves deployment of knowledge, skills, and competencies that one person or organization has for the benefit of another also applies both to internal services and to content producers. The fact that service science aims to provide the basis for increasing efficiency and quality of services is relevant to our sector. Its multi-disciplinary nature appeals too. Services are systems of interacting parts that include people, technology and business. Understanding this makes clear the need to bring disciplines such as computer science, economics, cognitive science, human resources management, operations research, and marketing into play. Some of us attempt this instinctively in our organizations.
But, who has heard of it – and where are the examples of its role in the information sector? It is more visible in the USA. Should we not learn more about it wherever we work? Certainly following IBM’s research could well pay dividends. See
Service quality
While not defined as a research journal, BIR accepts research-based papers that we consider have a relevance to practice. Developing approaches to assess the service performance of academic libraries in order to improve quality is clearly within scope. Higher education is increasingly recognized as a service industry in which its libraries play a key role in attracting and supporting students in a very competitive environment. The SERVQUAL scale, a tool for measuring service has been used widely in library and information centres for more than two decades including NHS libraries in the UK. The article from the Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka is concerned with the adaptation of SERQUAL to measuring the gap between expected and actual levels of service for key elements of service provision. The approach thus lends itself to improvement planning and provides a basis for measuring improvement. In the context reported the method is being used to compare four academic libraries but it could easily be adapted to examine current service performance in any information service and does not place a strenuous burden on the service user.
Big data, text analysis and competitive differentiation
Big Data continues to be a good opportunity for information professionals – an extension of involvement in organizational information management. The promotion of Big Data is focusing organizations to develop technical solutions to the challenge of making more sense of multiple data sources through analyzing them as an integrated whole. As this issue’s Initiatives suggests there is no shortage of opportunities for those who are prepared to expand their skills base. Data management and information management are different but it seems to us that business information professionals need to take a holistic view of the information needed for decision making and – get involved! Where we should already be involved is in text analysis. As Roger James states in ‘Out of the box: Microworld features in the landscape of information’, technology to deliver facts has ‘“levelled the playing field” and removed the inherent institutional advantage over the selection of, and access to, information. Our challenge is, with technology, to establish the personalization agenda, and abilities, across the featureless landscape of external information resources’. Technology has advanced information access and delivery so that there is no competitive edge in these areas. Text Analytics is concerned with effectiveness and is an area where we can lead. Roger argues that a new tipping point is emerging which will drive a new era of development and focus for the Information Professional and which reinforces one of our key roles, ‘to provide unique information resources to our organizations that assists their thinking and ensures a beneficial, and for some, profitable outcome’. Roger suggests that our efforts should be focused on enabling the small, expert communities that provide our organizations with their competitive edge. If we can do this and reinvent ourselves for the current climate, then 2014 will be an excellent year for information professionals.