But Are You the (Information) Master of Your Domain?

Posted On May 22, 2012 By Advance Blog

I think Kramer on Seinfeld posed it best when he asked Jerry: “But are you still master of your domain?” Strange as it sounds, it’s a good question to ask yourself when it comes to your business. Are you really mastering all you can in regards to your business? Where does that start? If you’ve read my most recent blogs, you’ll know where I’m going with this. Your data. Are you in control of your data? Do you own it….or does it own you?

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At Advance, we offer the tools and strategies to help you harness the data (document management and DocuWare), but it’s really about making sure that you’re managing it properly once it’s all set up. Who owns that? The new breed of “master,” if you will, is the Certified Information Professional. What’s an Information Professional? Glad you asked…let’s first talk about what we need to master.

Five years ago, no one would have dreamed that our devices would be as sophisticated as they are. The iPhone, iPad, and Android have revolutionized the traditional business office, making any Starbucks or Panera Bread with WiFi a mobile office space – without the inconvenience of lugging around a laptop. This has created an avalanche of information floating around in the cloud and being captured in the silos we call email, desktop, or DropBox folder.
We tweet, LinkIn, FaceBook and YouTube our business thoughts and assets. So how do you protect the integrity of this information – how do you keep up with the pace that the technology business world now demands? The millennials are infiltrating the workforce and demanding these technology tools and the access to the information that they need anytime, anyplace. They want to be armed with knowledge. This new breed of IT professionals are charged with keeping enterprise data organized and accessible, and will change the face of how we do business. Data is power, and having access to it is paramount. These information professionals will be multitaskers and have a number of specializations. Once you have the basic foundation and skill set you can really apply it to all business types and vertical markets.

Typically, this position is born from IT. It’s the IT professional who most closely resembles and can relate to the factors of where information is in a company and how to best bring it all together. This is a true competitive advantage to a business. It’s not good enough anymore just to have the best IT infrastructure and tools – that’s like saying we have electricity so we’re ahead of the game. Understanding the information lifecycle opens doors to improved customer experience, arms employees with knowledge previously housed in another department’s silo, and gives the information professional understanding of all the company’s information assets…essentially making him, or her, the master of your company’s domain. Get ready – the digital economy is here and you need to be armed with the right systems, people, and training to stay ahead of the curve.