by Angela Guess
Chris Maxcer recently discussed the topic of information governance, noting that “At first glance, information governance may seem like just another buzzword phrase, competing for attention in the vast landscape of similar terms covering similar topics. If information is data, how does information governance differ from data governance? And where do information management, enterprise information management (EIM), enterprise content management (ECM), knowledge management (KM), e-discovery, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), records management, IT governance and master data management (MDM) enter the information governance picture?”
Maxcer continues, “In practical use, information governance is somewhat of an umbrella term, covering multiple elements of related data and governance disciplines. It starts from a perspective of controlling information-related risk in an enterprise, beginning with structured data (data in databases) and extending to unstructured information governance (documents, email, instant messages, images). In short, information governance looks at the larger issue of governing all types of corporate content. To cover that broad swath of content, an information governance framework must extend beyond hardware and software into management policies, procedures and decision rights that shape how an organization creates, uses, stores and deletes information – all the while minimizing legal and regulatory risk.”
He goes on, “In short, any definition of information governance ends up becoming the sum of many, sometimes seemingly incongruent, elements of information management. ‘The worlds of data governance and content governance are not at all aligned,’ said Rob Karel, principal analyst for data management at Forrester Research Inc. ‘How do people access data when they are trying to answer a question through reporting or business intelligence? They ask a very structured question and they get the right answer.’”
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photo credit: {Flixelpix} David
