There are a lot of complicated reasons for organizations to make information governance (IG) a priority, including the possibility of having to respond to e-discovery demands at some point in the future. However, information governance can also improve day-to-day productivity simply by reducing data overload, advises consultant Barclay Blair.

The overwhelming magnitude of data available to employees can bog them down, making it hard to separate the signal from the noise, Blair writes in a post at CIOUpdate. Information governance policies--while perhaps seen by employees as tedious initially--ultimately offer clarity and structure, which most workers eventually come to appreciate. These policies can make it easier for them to find the information they need when they need it.

IG technologies and policies can improve the way in which data is classified, eliminate unnecessary data, and make relevant data more accessible. The sooner such systems are deployed the better, because the challenges surrounding information governance will only grow with time as data becomes more complex and regulators impose more duties.

"Every day the pile of unmanaged information in your organization grows. Every day the habits of your knowledge workers get more ingrained. Every day new technologies enter your enterprise and create new sources of unmanaged risk. Every day technology gets more complex. Every day courts and regulators grow more sophisticated and demanding when it comes to information management," he warns.

If these arguments aren't convincing enough to get you busy implementing IG policies, Blair asserts that information governance "is the future of organization culture." Going forward, organizations will rely on diverse groups to come together to solve complicated problems. A multi-disciplinary approach will drive success, and IG is by definition multi-disciplinary. 

"Success in IG is synonymous with the ability to peer beyond the confines of one discipline to understand how each discipline connects with the others to solve the problem," he writes.

For more:
- see Barclay Blair's post at CIOUpdate

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