Posts tagged people

So What Exactly Is An Information Professional?

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3 years ago
by Scott Coughlin in

This is a question that I get asked quite a lot.  The term Information Professional was designed to be a super category that wraps up many different professions that all provide for higher productivity, reduced uncertainty, better defined risks, and more clarity.  This is generally applied today to those who manage, design, implement, or purchase systems that collect, store, maintain, produce, or exchange digital information.  Information Technicians (ITs), Information Managers (IMs), Knowledge Managers (KMs), business intelligence experts, Chief Information Officer (CIOs), and computer/network security analysts are all Information Professionals.  Some consider press departments, public affairs teams, pollsters, and communications experts to also be part of this community.  The purpose of an Information Professional is to enable superior decisions by an organization’s leadership through effectively promoting data into information, then knowledge, and ultimately wisdom.

Here are some selected other definitions from around the web:

  1. Special Libraries Association Information Professional Page
  2. CHIPS – The Department of the Navy Information Technology Magazine

I believe that Information Professional is a term of art.  It is best considered to be a part of any discussion that revolves around how our world is moving from the Industrial into the Information Ages.  Information Professionals are those people who have make their lives work that of enabling organizations to make that transformation.  They provide the core competency of increasing competitive advantage by minimizing the "digital friction" that exists as organizations effect their physical world value chains via their virtual data communications, processing, storage, and management systems.

Do you have anything to add to my description of Information Professionals?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 11, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin

Eleven Reasons Why I Love Being an Information Professional

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3 years ago
by Scott Coughlin in


  1. The high pace of change due to innovation prevents boredom.
  2. I feel like I am part of "the fight" in cyberspace.
  3. There is a never ending need to learn more to stay current.
  4. It is full of hard problems that need solving.
  5. I get to do serious systems engineering on a daily basis.
  6. I get to do serious resource and financial management on a daily basis.
  7. There is an equal part of "soft" people challenges in making the human side of Information Technology (IT) work.
  8. It is a growth industry on nearly all fronts and specialties.
  9. I am a technology lover at heart and this feeds my addiction. I have an excuse to be an early adopter.
  10. The industry is populated with many dynamic market players — not just a few large firms.
  11. There are tons of very smart people all around you.


Why do you love being an Information Professional ?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 9, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin .

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Information Professional Talent — Priceless

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3 years ago
by Scott Coughlin in

Portable storage with enough capacity to hold the world’s largest library…. $99

A Dell PC® powerful enough to use that library’s data for competitive advantage… $499

An information professional who can make them both deliver information superiority for your organization… Priceless.

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We frequently repeat the mantra that our people are an organization’s more valuable resource.  Court cases go on for years over intellectual property rights.  But, do we really demonstrate this valuation through our actions?

When is the last time that you invested in clearing the obstacles out of the path of your IT or knowledge management department?

Is your training, certification, and education budgets for this same group representative of their true value to your company?

Do you pay your information management team equitably to their  workmates in other departments?  Does your Chief Information Officer (CIO) receive a compensation package on par with your Chief Operating Officer, Strategic Management Officer (SMO), or Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?  Be honest…I bet that these others cannot even get to first base without that CIO these days.

Here are some resources from around the web for you:

Most importantly, do you have an Information Professional recruitment, retention, and reward program of such a caliber that you have confidence that your organization is the one attracting the best in the business?  Are you losing this priceless competitive ingredient to the same companies that are taking your market share, too?

Personally, I believe that in today’s Information Age economy, market success in nearly every segment is a factor of the talent of your knowledge workers times their available time per day to apply their strengths to your bottom line output.  I think that Information Professionals bring a unique skill set to the fight that has the ability to make good organizations great.  If you sense that your organization is working twice as hard as your competition, but still producing less at greater cost, I can almost guarantee it is because your glue – the information management team – are second string players.

It is time for us all to go back and see if we are treating our Information Professionals like they are Priceless or more like that $99 hard drive.

So do you think that people are the most important ingredient in a successful knowledge / service based economy or is there something else?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April  4, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin .

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