What Does the Next Generation of Information Leaders Look Like?

As we’ve discussed before, we are in a world of rapid and accelerating change. Three major disruptive forces are accelerating the pace of change and driving organizations into information chaos:

1. CONSUMERIZATION is transforming what users expect from applications and how we deliver them. We are now in the era of user-centric IT.

2. CLOUD AND MOBILE are creating an expectation of anywhere, anytime access, and transforming how we engage with customers and employees.

3. THE INTERNET OF THINGS is creating massive amounts of new data and information, creating enormous new challenges and opportunities.

I hear the warning signs of information chaos every day in my conversations with AIIM members:

• Knowledge workers -- “I can’t find anything and the volume of ‘stuff’ I am trying to manage is rapidly spinning out of control.”
• Security officers -- “Information is leaking out of the organization at every turn via devices that weren’t even invented when we put our systems in place.”
• Records managers and lawyers – “The volume of information that is beyond our ability to control is increasing business risk and exposure.”
• IT people -- “Every time I turn around, ‘the business’ has implemented some new application that we didn’t even know about.”
• The C-Suite -- “I can’t believe we are not getting more value out of the money we spend on technology.”

Organizations everywhere are struggling to transition to Information systems at work that are simple, secure, and work anywhere, anyplace, and on any device. In striving to achieve this mission, they struggle with people, with processes, and with technology, and in doing so, usually do so with a focus that is about 5% people, 15% process, and 80% technology.

Unfortunately, they have it exactly backwards. The organizations that will thrive in the future need to do so with a strategy that is about 80% people, 15% process, and 5% technology. The “people” who are critical to the future – I call them Information Professionals – come in two flavors:

1. those who architect the systems we use to manage information; and
2. those who use these systems to create and innovate in their day-to-day jobs.

It is no longer enough to be a business strategist. It is no longer enough to be a technologist. It is no longer enough to be an innovator. Our organizations need information professionals who are all three, and they are in short supply.

How is your organization preparing to equip this next generation of leaders? How are you updating your skills to make sure you are one of them?