The Road Ahead Strategy Proposal For Information Professionals

The Road Ahead: Discussion Paper
Strategy Proposal for Information Professionals January 2009

online consultants international

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The Road Ahead

Proposal regarding a Strategic Direction
for Information Professionals
in the 21st Century

Discussion Paper
January 2009

Author:

Michael Fanning Managing Director t +49-(0)721-92 12-909
Online Consultants International GmbH f +49-(0)721-92 12-913
Unterreut 6 e michael.fanning@oci-gmbh.com
D-76135 Karlsruhe w http://www.oci-gmbh.com

Copyright notice:

This publication is available Version 1.1
under a Creative Commons 31st January 2009
Attribution-No Derivative
Works 3.0 Germany licence.

© 2009 Online Consultants International GmbH. Page 1 of 12
Some rights reserved.


PREFACE

“To be successful, organisations need to take
a different approach; one that considers information
as a critical business asset, not an afterthought.”

The Information Opportunity Report
Harnessing information to enhance business performance
Cap Gemini 2008

At the recent Online Information 2008 exhibition in London, Natalie Ceeney, CEO of the
National Archives in the United Kingdom, gave the Keynote Speech in a session targeted at
information professionals and entitled “Do we have a profession?”.

She began her talk by asking the audience how they described themselves to third parties.
Whether, for instance they refer to themselves as information professionals, or as knowledge
managers, or even as information and knowledge management specialists, or know-how
managers, or librarians, or documentalists, or researchers.

Upon receiving a mixed but not decisive show of hands for each of these categories, she
challenged the audience with the observation as to why do people whose job it is to work
with information in all its various forms and manifestations, find it so difficult to represent
themselves as a single profession.

After all, were a similar question to be posed to a group of people working in the information
technology sector, it would be unusual for them to insist upon being referred to as web
developers, database specialists, programmers and systems engineers, i.e. by their “sub-
title”. Amongst themselves and, more pointedly, for the purpose of interacting with other
professional groups, they are very comfortable to look upon and refer to themselves using
their main and collective title, namely “IT people”.



INTRODUCTION

According to key political leaders, “this is the century of information”1. In a similar vein,
reports are beginning to emerge that describe the “Power of Information”2. In business circles
it has long been recognised that information driven companies are emerging as some of the
strongest and most productive industry sectors. One of the most prominent examples is of
course Google. In less than 10 years, the company has reached a market capitalisation of
$145 billion, which comfortably exceeds the combined market value of the US automobile
industry ($89 billion).

It is both fitting and helpful, however, to look upon information as a “power” or as a “force”.
The recent data protection scandals in Germany serve as a reminder that information can
damage businesses both in terms of their standing and their profit margins as much as it can
help them prosper. With this in mind, industry leaders are realising that poor information
management is costly and detrimental to their business, while good information management
provides the company with efficiency gains, good standing and a competitive edge.

A recent report by Cap Gemini entitled The Information Opportunity Report: Harnessing
information to enhance business performance found that a “broken information culture” is
widespread within businesses and is believed to suppress performance by 29%3. In the
United Kingdom, this equates to an annual €50 billion of missed opportunity for private sector
profits. Leaders in both the public and private sectors are now acting upon the premise that
information and knowledge management has to be moved from being regarded as
something of a back-office role to become a key corporate function playing a critical and
decisive role in strategic planning, business development, compliance and risk management.

THE INFORMATION PROFSSIONAL’S DILEMMA

The Cap Gemini report is a recent addition to a growing awareness that while all
organisations use information and process knowledge, few do so efficiently and effectively.
Fewer still manage information in a proactive way that delivers verifiable productive returns
measured by indicators such as increased revenues, number of employees, increase in
market share, return on investment etc.

The explosion in the number of information resources available to a company’s employees
together with the - now virtually assumed and self-understood - availability of powerful
research tools, such as search engines, means that most employees have on their desks

1 th
See Gordon Brown’s Liberty Speech from 25 October 2007 available onhttp://www.number10.gov.uk/Page13630.
2
See http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2007/070405_power.aspx
3
See http://www.uk.capgemini.com/for_you_to_use/thought_leadership/the_information_opportunity_report_2008/



resources that hardly 15 years ago would have been the sole responsibility of a dedicated
information department and its specialist staff.

Information specialists have struggled to keep apace with these developments and as a
result are constantly under pressure to justify their contribution and value to the overall
business. That their own understanding of who they are and what they do has been severely
challenged by the onslaught of the information society and knowledge economy is reflected
in the lack of definition of their own professional image which in German is rendered by the
term “Berufsbild”.

In fact, the changing role of libraries and, perhaps more importantly, the changing attitudes
within organisations to information services is having an impact upon information
professionals the consequence of which is to further the fragmentation of what it is that they
do. This was described well by one group of information professionals from the banking and
financial sector in Germany, the IK-Ring (see below),

“The profession of the information professional is extremely diverse and as a result it is
difficult to define it in concrete terms. Information professionals have so many different job
titles such as documentalist, information broker, information manager or even knowledge
manager. Typical work for an information professional in a financial institution would be to
search for information on business and economy related issues in electronic databases
and the Internet. The process would usually be initiated by another employee of the bank
who would contact the information specialist department and ask them to find information
for him or his department.”4

While this is an honest and frank portrayal of the work of an information professional in a
bank or financial institution, its approach is still somewhat traditional. The description sees
the information professional as something of a reactive information broker. As someone who
flits about to gather information for a specific need where the need is specifically identified
and acted upon by a third party.

The statement makes no reference to the role of the information professional in the
organisation, to their competencies or to the skill set required – managerial and leadership as
well as an ability to process information – to proactively promote information services within a
bank.

The perception by information professionals of themselves as reactive information brokers
coupled with the plethora of job titles used to describe their position in organisations has had
the consequence that, in Germany at least, there is no consistent or meaningful “Berufsbild”
or professional image for information professionals.

4
From the IK-Ring website. Seehttp://www.ik-info.de/content/view/57/25/lang,de/



To illustrate the point about job titles, the diagram below displays a myriad job titles selected
from amongst German companies and taken from the Online Consultants International
GmbH client database over the period 2007 to 2008.

Bibliothekarin Information Research
Librarian

Bibliothek und Recherche Bibliothekarin/Informationsmanagerin

Research Associate Information Specialist

Information
Leiterin Infocenter Professionals
Marketing Communication
in
Germany

Head of Research OnlineManagement

Inhouse Consulting Knowledge Services
Library Manager

Information Officer
Manager Knowledge and Learning

Figure 1: Job titles of information professionals in Germany

All the above job titles have been taken from German businesses. There is a noticeable and
extensive use of English titles, terms and descriptions. This is driven partly by the need to
find a uniform job description in international, globally active organisations. It is however also
driven by the fact that the German information community has struggled to establish original
terms of its own.

Nevertheless, what binds those people that can be described as information professionals is
that they have a high degree of information competence. They have had training or have
developed specialist skills in the organisation of information, in finding it and being able to
apply it to solving problems and are able to help others to do so.

In other words, while the job title may vary, information professionals can be identified by
their competences i.e. they can be identified on the basis that they are in an information
hungry organisation and have, as part of their formal job description, information
organisation, acquisition, processing and dissemination.



ROLE OF THE INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL: A PROPOSAL

Emphasising the flexibility and scalability in the very idea of “competence”, a proposal
regarding the role of information professionals in the 21st century is set out below.

It is proposed that information professionals strive to establish information competence as a
key management responsibility in companies of all sizes in Germany. Furthermore, that they
position themselves professionally so as to be the initiators, evangelists and facilitators of the
practical implementation of information competence in the organisation. The practical
implementation of information competence in the organisation should be carried out for
collective benefit, i.e. of the company as a whole as well as for individual benefit, i.e. of
individual members of staff, regardless of their position within the organisation.

The proposal is based on the following assumptions:

 information is playing an ever increasing role in day-to-day business operations and
as a consequence, companies of all sizes need to raise their collective level of
competence in the use, re-use and daily interaction with information;

 competence in the daily interaction with information within companies needs to be
addressed at the most senior levels of management and that where the overall
responsibility for the effective use of information is established as a management
responsibility, information competence within the company will be associated with
productivity;

 the importance of information competence is emphasised as both an individual asset
as well as a corporate asset.; indeed, because information competence is a key skill
for people and organisations alike, its active cultivation will provide a solid foundation
upon which to build corporate productivity;

 information competence is an essential competence for business success in that it
provides a common area of concentration for the diverse pools of experience within a
company, for apparently conflicting interests as well as for potentially antagonistic
departmental agendas.

The attraction of the proposal lies in the unifying effect of the idea of information
competence. That is to say, information competence should be seen as the key to corporate
productivity, because organisations need it, managers are able to understand it and
information professionals can implement it.



Information competence is the concept that can bridge the gap between the information
requirements of commercial organisations and the desire to improve the professional
standing of information professionals.

THE OBERHOF PROPOSAL

The concept of information competence offers information professionals a vehicle with which
to articulate and demonstrate their use as information specialists to the organisation; to
anchor their activities within the key business processes of the organisation.

More importantly, information competence offers information professionals a means to focus
their activities and to counter the profession’s destructive tendency towards fragmentation
and diversity. The combination of the idea of information competence and the information
professional as the person to nurture and implement it additionally provides information
professionals with a personal strategy for self-development irrespective of the organisation
they work for.

At the 24th Oberhof Colloquium on the Practice of Information Transfer held in
Barleben/Magdeburg in April 2008, one of the slides used in my presentation offered a
suggestion as to how information professionals could render their “Berufsbild” more
precisely5:

5
Fanning, 2008. “The role of information competence in improving the fortunes of information professionals” in
Informationskompetenz 2.0 Zukunft von qualifizierter Informationsvermittlung, 24. Oberhofer Kolloquium zur Praxis der
Informationsvermittlung, Barleben/Magdeburg, April 2008, DGI Tagungsband.



The Role of the Information Professional – A proposal

As a precondition for future success resulting from re-positioning and re-tasking their
role, the professional image of the information professional must be more precise, e.g.

Title: Chief Information Manager (CIM)

Role: The Chief Information Manager (CIM) has overall responsibility for information
management within an organisation and produces, implements and monitors
the information policy and plan of the organisation which has to be approved
by senior management.

Qualification: A key attribute required for the role of the CIM is the proven ability to be able
to understand and articulate the business processes within the organisation in
terms of information transactions and to act thereupon. Desirable are also the
following:

 Ability to think strategically
 Ability not only to innovate but also to initiate and administer innovation
 Ability to communicate with all levels of management
 Experience and understanding of IT-developments is desirable but not necessary
 Management experience of organisational change management

Reports to: CEO / Managing Director / Senior Management.

Figure 2: Description of the title, role and qualifications of a Chief Information Manager.

An important observation made at the time of the presentation was that given the
increasingly non-linear paths of career development, there is no guarantee that people from
those areas more traditionally associated with information, namely librarianship and
documentation, would be best suited to the role of a Chief Information Manager:



The Role of the Information Professional – Beware, there is competition!

The classic career path of the information professional from the ranks of librarians has to be
fundamentally rethought as there is active competition from othe r professions.

Chief Information Manager
Future: GOAL

IT-Staff Lawyers
Present: ??? Librarians ??? COMPETITION
???

Consultants Records Managers
??? ???
NEED FOR
Proposal: Own profile through cooperation! ACTION!

Figure 3: Direction of competition for the role played by information professionals within companies

Assessments from the market strongly indicate that where librarians and documentalists
want to aspire to positions such as that of the Chief Information Manager described above,
they must seek out opportunities and a means of acquiring the relevant skill sets and
experience. In this respect, all the professional associations involved in and around
information, documentation and knowledge management are challenged to offer guidance
and assistance and that consistently - and with conviction - throughout the professional life-
time of their members.

A VARIATION ON THE THEME

The Oberhof proposal is to be regarded as a framework and even as a model which is
attempting to address the detail of the implementation of the role of the information
professionals as the initiator, evangelist and facilitator of the practical implementation of
information competence in the organisation.



All aspects of the model, from the role’s title to the qualifications deemed necessary are, and
indeed should be, the subject of discussion. The importance of the model is that it highlights
the essential points, namely that the role

 involves leadership and management,
 is recognised as a key corporate function and
 is integrated into essential business processes through a system of reporting and
accountability

On the basis of these critical points it is possible to expand upon the Oberhof proposal:

Generic title Role Qualification Reporting to

Director, Knowledge and  Responsible for strategic  Innovative thought-leader CEO
Information Management and operational KIM in Board of Directors
 Proven ability to render
the organisation business operations in Senior management
(WID - Wissens und  Initiates and implements information terms
Informationsmanagement KIM policy development  Experienced project
Direktor) focussing on compliance, manager
risk and opportunity
 Good communicator

Manager, Knowledge and  Responsible for overall  Integrator CEO
Information Management knowledge and Board of Directors
 Problem solver
information management
 Experienced project Senior management
(WIM - Wissens und  Produces, implements manager Middle management
Informationsmanagement and monitors information
 Good communicator
Manager) policy and resultant plans

Information Officer  Delegated responsibility  Willingness to learn CEO
Knowledge and Information for special KIM projects  Readiness to solve Board of Directors
Management  Produces reports and problems Senior management
develops networking  Desire to network and Middle management
resources / opportunities integrate
(WIB - Wissens und Department head
Informationsmanagement  Monitors KIM trends  Good communicator
Beauftragter) relevant to organisation

Table 1: Expansion of the Oberhof proposal to cover all areas of management and size of company.

SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS

1. Scope

The expanded version of the Oberhof proposal enables the critical points to be adapted for
companies of all sizes. Whereas large corporations are more likely to appoint a Director of
Knowledge and Information Management, smaller companies, and in particular SME’s, may
opt instead to appoint a member of staff to the role of “Information Officer” along the lines of
the “Data Protection Officer” i.e. Datenschutzbeauftragter.



2. Generic title – Preservation of a systematic approach

The title of the information professional’s role in the expanded Oberhof proposal is suggested
as a generic title, where the title is rendered substantial by the consistency with which the
role and qualifications are described as well as the consistency of the reporting lines. Where
information specialists and their professional organisations regard these titles as generic
ones, the system of competence and the hierarchy of its organisation can be preserved. The
flexibility of this approach would also enable companies to use job titles they deem
appropriate for their organisations while mapping their chosen job titles onto the generic titles
used collectively by information specialists and their professional associations.

3. Generic title – Cultivation of a constructive yet still symbiotic distance to IT

The selection of the generic job title along the lines of “Knowledge and Information
Management” Director / Manager / Officer is a deliberate attempt to further the much needed
individualisation between information usage in companies and the information technology
that supports such usage.

It has after all become imperative that professional people working in the information and
knowledge management professions delineate – please note: NOT dissociate - themselves
and their activities from those of the ICT community. A large and potentially overwhelming
community, preoccupied for the most part with technology and things, where ICT stands for
“Information and Communications Technology”, in German “Informations- und
Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT).6

Instead, it is recommended that information professionals work collectively to emphasise,
and indeed highlight, their expertise in the world of intangibles and abstractions by
positioning themselves clearly in the world of Knowledge and Information Management
(KIM), in German “Wissens- und Informationsmanagement ( WIM).

The proposal to use the appellation “Knowledge and Information Management (KIM)” and its
German equivalent “Wissens- und Informationsmanagement (WIM) is given not only with a
sense of purpose and pragmatism but also of lament and frustration. Lament because the
title “Chief Information Officer (CIO)” has been effectively denied the community of
information professionals, as referred to here, by the wide use of “CIO” to refer to (most
usually) an information technology professional responsible primarily for IT procurement. The
title “Chief Information Officer” and its abbreviation “CIO” has become irretrievably embedded
in the world of objects and things.

The finer distinctions between information and knowledge and their respective management,
it is argued here, are to be and should be discussed and cultivated in the realms of the

6
See http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Navigation/Technologie-und-Innovation/informationsgesellschaft.html



specialist. From the point of view of most companies and their management, such
discussions are too early and are more likely to distract their focus on and from the pressing
need to harness the power of information. The more urgent requirement as far as information
professionals are concerned is that management understands that as the Cap Germini
report7 also stated:

“(t)he information opportunity is as much
about information,
people and process as it is about technology.”

In conclusion, a role model for the views advocated above is now available from the public
sector in the United Kingdom, where Natalie Ceeney, CEO of the National Archives (who
worked before that in the British Library), has recently been appointed Head of Knowledge
and Information Management (KIM) Function. This group deals with the operational aspects
of the UK Government’s Knowledge Council8, which is the strategic body established to
lead government in the better use and management of its knowledge and information.

7
See footnote 3 above.
8
See http://gkimn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/


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