The UK economy is – once again – 'in recession'. Times are hard, and service departments and
cost centres need to be able to prove that they are directly contributing to
the wellbeing of their organisations. What
messages should information professionals share with senior management to
demonstrate how business information enhances our organisations? This was a key question tackled by those
attending Aslib’s second Business Information
Community of Practice (BICoP) meeting in London this week.
Strategic
alignment
It is critical to understand what it is that your
organisation values and to ensure that services support these key values. Do you attend the meetings that mean you know
what deals are going on? Some delegates
recommended ‘forcing yourself’ into these meetings until colleagues recognise
the value of your attendance! Provide
support for all key business processes from business pitch to deal closure.
Decision
makers and influencers
Can you identify all of your organisation’s champions
and budget holders? What processes do
you have in place to listen and respond to your organisational clients? Does the CEO know who you are? Do you act like ‘other departments’ – do you
have a retreat, and a training budget?
Evidence
base
The gathering and broadcasting of real examples of
business impact should be a clear imperative.
How are you tracking the beneficial use of data and information provided
by your team? The creation of ‘annual
reports’ with statistical information about impact of services is one option
discussed.
Risk management
Information
management is key to managing both financial and reputational risk. The cost of non-compliance and under
exploitation of resources and poor competitor intelligence should help
colleagues focus on the value of BI services.
Quality assured information
The use
of quality sources needs to be promoted within the organisation. Senior partners and colleagues may be using
inappropriate free information sources – although not all free resources are necessarily
poor quality. Kitemarking or ‘indemnity
assured information sources’ are options. Information professionals should be driving
increased information literacy within their organisations.
The
challenge of demonstrating value is ongoing and should be a constant concern to
business information professionals. This
is a subject we can be sure that BICOP will return to in the future as we seek
to learn from each other what works – and what doesn’t – in the ongoing battle
to help our organisations thrive.
