Noeleen who has 25 years’ experience in the information management sector and is a Director at an information management consultancy, shares here career journey.
I worked as a librarian in South Africa during the 1980s before moving to the UK in 1990. Initially I worked in public libraries before moving into library consultancy in the late 1990s.
I moved into information and knowledge management within a few years and quickly found my stride. I thoroughly enjoy consulting and, early on in records management consultancy, I worked with a range of clients to manage their records – both paper and digital and improve processes. The broad sector experience I gained has been invaluable to my consulting career.
Moving into consultancy was the light bulb moment as I could combine my professional love of records with the ability to problem solve and make a real difference. Joining Metataxis as a Director was another highlight. It is fabulous to be part of a well-respected consultancy. It has been very rewarding having colleagues to be able to bounce ideas off and being constantly challenged in my thinking. It has kept me fresh and looking at the world of information in ever evolving and new dimensions.
I’ve learn along the way that no information and records management problem is insurmountable. The key is to first identify the root cause, then build a clear path to remediation, taking one step at a time. Start by understanding what colleagues and clients are trying to achieve, how they are doing it and why. From there, we can apply our professional knowledge and skills to work with them, reframing challenges and finding solutions that help them work smarter, while staying compliant.
In just a few decades we’ve shifted the idea of a paperless office to a world where almost all new content is created digitally. The rate of creation has exploded; the total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally is forecast to increase rapidly. By 2028, global data creation is projected to grow to more than 394 zettabytes.
The sector needs to rethink information management practices and explore different ways to manage and govern this explosion. The profession can no longer sit in our ivory towers and provide policies – a more practical approach must be taken. For many organisations, some information and data created is essential for long term preservation, while a significant proportion is trivial and can be deleted after a short period. Records managers must consider all information and data collected, not just the small percentage we might declare as “records”.
Addressing this challenge is what information management specialists do best – viewing the world of content in a more holistic way. We can’t work in silo; we need to be proactive and work with our users to understand their business needs and challenges, finding solutions to help them extract value and leverage content in new and different ways. We should work with allied disciplines to gain a comprehensive view of information, its structures, governance, technology and its risks to avoid siloed perspectives.
The maturity of storing data and working in the cloud and the ongoing advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is producing tools to support new ways of working. As a profession, we must rethink how we approach information management. There is a need for fresh strategies for managing, storing, structuring and governing information. While core requirements around records and information management standards hasn’t changed, the way in which they are interpreted must evolve. Content and information are still king, but the sector needs to find the right approaches to stay relevant and effectively engage with it.
Effective records managers require endless curiosity – constantly asking questions (how, why, when, what, if) and seeking the truth about how people create and use information, who they share it with and what its value is. We need to be proactive, engage directly with users to help them interpret and apply policies effectively. We should help people work smarter and not sit back and just offer advice. We should also be able to connect proactively with a wide range of people at all levels enabling them to engage in both strategic discussions and tactical, operational matters.
I think we should also move away from using Information Management/Records Management specific vocabulary when talking to our employers and clients. We should use business terms that are understood, highlighting the value of what we do – or help them do – in terms of business benefit. Compliance is essential, but we must emphasise the value of information to inform decision making and achieving business outcomes.
If I had to give career advice to my younger self I would say that the record-keeping and information professions are amazing and rich with opportunities. Take advantage of all the open doors, even if it feels like a sideways move. Every organisation you work for can teach you something additional about our profession.
I would also tell my younger self to recognise the difference in being passionate about information, while recognising others might not share the same views, and that’s OK – it doesn’t diminish anything I or others in my profession might do and achieve. To realise that all perspectives are OK, it’s not a personal criticism if others have a different perspective.