Gartner urges information management rethink

Enterprises need to adopt a more strategic approach to information management, according to analyst firm Gartner.

In a report entitled Exploring Innovation Forces in Information Infrastructure, Gartner urges IT leaders to harness what it calls "innovation forces" and to focus less on technology and more on the business value of information.

"These innovation forces provide significant changes in the way that information management technologies and competencies will be focused and delivered, with the goal of radically improving the cost-effectiveness, agility and transparency with which information assets are managed and leveraged," explained Ted Friedman, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"Organisations that focus only on tools and technology, without increasing their information management competency or changing their culture, are unable to fully achieve the benefits of information infrastructure."

Gartner said that to make this transition IT workers need to shrug off their traditional mindsets and instead focus on the value of information, as opposed to the value of information systems.

It added that enterprises should consider where information is delivered, and through what models they access it.