What Information Leaders Should Be Thinking About Now

We're at a crucible moment in information management, with a lot going on. Here's what information leaders should be focusing on: 

1. Stay Aware of AI Developments

Every information leader has to be aware of what's unfolding and what's available to them through AI. You don't necessarily need to have all the answers - it's a moving target at this point and still evolving. We're in early days. But definitely: 

• Have a good pulse on how AI is evolving 
• Understand what's changing and what's out there 
• Know what impacts AI could have on your business 
• Start developing a thesis around that 

2. Ready Your Organization for AI 

You may or may not use AI in the future. You may not event intentionally decide to use AI as it could be embedded in some other application. Either way, there's no downside in preparing, and you're not going to hurt your organization by: 

• Implementing better information governance now 
• Ratcheting up your compliance 
• Making sure data is actually tagged and structured 

3. Clean Up Your Data 

Now is a great opportunity to clean house. There's probably budget available to you if you position it this way. Focus on: 

• Getting rid of the redundant, obsolete, and trivial information (ROT) 
• Tagging your data 
• Structuring your data 
• Cleaning it up to protect yourselves for the future 

4. Know What You Have 

 This is the time to: 

• Get rid of information silos that are often in departments 
• Consolidate to maybe fewer systems of record or centralized repositories 

Conclusion 

These are all the things I'm having conversations about with CIOs. In my view, this is what information leaders should be thinking about every day. It's about readying for AI, even if you're not implementing it immediately, by improving your current information management practices. 

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