By Tori Miller Liu, CIP, President & CEO, Association for Intelligent Information Management
At AIIM, we have spent the past year identifying and talking about orthodox beliefs, or negative assumptions we hold about the world around us. This year’s report calls into question an orthodox belief held by the information management industry: that information management systems and programs are only accessible to large organizations with substantial resources.
The reality is that information management systems and technologies have become more affordable and accessible to organizations of all sizes, across industries. We have moved past the days of monolithic electronic content management (ECM) systems operated by a select few and instead find customized, diverse technology stacks and information management programs that are tailored to each specific organization.
Organizations are either riding or trying to catch the AI wave. Success with AI is dependent on the ecosystem of people, processes, and data within an organization. AI adoption cannot happen in isolation. If your organization lacks the ability to manage and leverage unstructured data to use for AI and manage the output of AI, you are missing the foundation of your AI program.
As you read this research, I encourage you to evaluate your own information management program. How does your program compare to the average organization? Do you have the appropriate number of staff to adequately manage the increasing volume of data within your organization? Does your staff have sufficient skills and knowledge to manage and leverage unstructured data to advance your strategic goals? Do you have Information Leaders within your organization who can guide AI and automation strategies and lead your information management programs.
The role and responsibilities of the practitioner are defined by how their organization perceives the value of information and information management as a practice. In this year’s survey, respondents were asked about their information management programs to assess the level of investment organizations are making into unstructured data management. The results show that investment in information management is surging across industries and organizations of all sizes.
Adoption Surges Across Industries
Information management is expanding beyond large organizations in regulated industries. The results from this year’s survey demonstrate this increasing diversity. The value of information management goes beyond compliance and regulation. Harnessing unstructured data leads to better decision making, better customer experiences, and better business outcomes.
Information management practitioners still tend to work in highly regulated industries, though. Unsurprisingly, more heavily regulated industries have the largest concentration of individuals who work either directly or indirectly in information management. Government and Public Services emerges as the largest segment at 25 percent, Banking and Finance represents 8 percent, Education represents 7 percent each. Energy, Oil & Gas, and Mining collectively account for 5 percent, as do Charity and Non-Profit organizations, while Healthcare represents 4 percent of respondents. Yet, demonstrates the breadth of cross-industry adoption of information management practices.
What’s notable in this year’s report is the increase in respondents from small and mid-size organizations. As the cost of information management systems continues to decrease and the importance of unstructured data management to achieving strategic goals increases, it’s clear that organizations of all sizes see the benefit in retaining information management practitioners.
Organizations Invest
As a sign of increasing economic pressures and rising costs, the reasons behind investing in and prioritizing information management have shifted since 2023. In 2023, AIIM found that the top three organizational goals related to information management were compliance (30 percent); customer service (16 percent); and costs and productivity (11 percent). In this years’ survey, respondents were asked more directly to provide input on the top three reasons their organization invests in information management.
The top three most popular reasons for investing in information management in 2024 included Compliance & Risk (70 percent); Digital Transformation (38 percent); and Costs and Productivity (37 percent). All three areas, even Digital Transformation, are about reducing risks and costs. This increased emphasis could be due to a larger percentage of information management practitioners responding to this year’s survey, but also could reflect the economic slowdown of the past year and a desire amongst organizations to avoid costly violations.
Interestingly, Customer Service moved down to the fifth most prevalent reason behind investment at 25 percent. Information Leaders can use these reasons or drivers to gain buy-in and budgetary support for new projects and information management programs within their organizations.
Reasons for investing change based on perspectives. AIIM has spoken with many solution providers and system integrators in the past year who report that sales are not being made by focusing on compliance and risk, but instead focusing on business outcomes. Consultants and Suppliers of Information Management Software or Services were excluded from survey results, but their response to this question was interesting because they put less weight on compliance & Risk (52 percent) while it was still the top cited reason for investment.
Thirty-eight percent (38 percent) of solution providers who responded to the survey also selected Competitive advantage and 35 percent selected Costs & Productivity as primary reasons for investing in information management.
A Shortage of Skillsets in AI
In addition to a talent shortage, organizations may also be facing a gap in required skillsets. Respondents were asked to rate the internal information management skillsets in their organization. The weakest areas where respondents tended to feel that their organization mainly had no proficiency or beginner level proficiency were in artificial governance; process and workflow design; and records management.
What is concerning about this lack of proficiency is most organization are planning investments and implementation in generative AI; Workflow and process automation solutions; and Records Management Solutions in the next 1-3 years. Training can be accomplished during software implementation, but generally it’s a best practice to have internal skillsets to provide ongoing, operational support for a technology platform before making a significant investment. This helps ensure the sustainability of the product within an organization.
Skill gaps impact effectiveness across different information management initiatives withing organizations. The areas where organizations are least effective are generative AI use and governance, knowledge management, extracting data and intelligence from information, long-term information preservation, and workflow and process automation. Most employees lack advanced skills in using and governing generative AI, according to a survey. Only 31 percent of respondents felt their organization had more than beginner level proficiency in these areas. Knowledge management also shows a significant lack of proficiency, with 10.76 percent of organizations having no proficiency and 32.27 percent at the beginner level. The other mentioned areas have around 10-13 percent of organizations with no proficiency and a significant portion at the beginner level.
Tori Miller Liu, CIP, is President & CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management.
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