Iron Mountain study shows 89 per cent of UK business leaders don’t fully understand what their records and information managers do
Making the most of information is a priority for many businesses. However, a new study from storage and information management company,
Iron Mountain shows that a lack of understanding between those who manage and those who use information is making it harder to achieve this goal.
The study found that 89 per cent of UK business leaders don’t fully understand what their information managers do. In return, 56 per cent of UK records and information managers admit they don’t know exactly what senior business leaders want and need from information – with 66 per cent confused about the information needs of colleagues in marketing, manufacturing, finance and other departments.
The study shows just one in ten (10 per cent) of the business leaders surveyed had complete confidence in their organisation’s ability to extract the full value from its information.
These trends and their impact are echoed elsewhere, with one global study finding that just 27 per cent of firms say their employees have access to the data they need, and 42 per cent admit that access to their data is cumbersome.
“In today’s knowledge-driven world our study has revealed an unexpected obstacle on the road towards return on information,” said Sue Trombley, Director of Professional Services at Iron Mountain. “This must be addressed as a matter of urgency if organisations are to have any chance of extracting the full value from their data.
“The good news is that the study also found that 88 per cent of records and information managers have confidence in their ability to help businesses maximise the value of their information. This suggests that the gap is created by a lack of understanding and poor communication rather than inability to deliver. Business leaders need to better understand what records and information managers can contribute; at the same time information professionals need to align more closely with business needs.”
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is a leading provider of storage and information management solutions. The company’s real estate network of 64 million square feet across more than 1,000 facilities in 36 countries allows it to serve customers around the world. And its solutions for records management, data backup and recovery, document management and secure shredding help organisations to lower storage costs, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and better use their information for business advantage. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of information assets, including business documents, backup tapes, electronic files and medical data. Visit www.ironmountain.co.uk for more information.
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