Do we know as much as we need to know?

Modern-day businesses are about creating competitive advantages in the marketplace and sustaining them in the long run. Core to creating the competitive advantage is the effective management of information, something that is crucial for the success and survival of any organisation.

Information management (IM) is the collection and management of information from one or more sources. The collected information has to be distributed to a single or wider audience.

It primarily involves identifying, organising, evaluating, storing and disseminating information in the most efficient manner based on the understanding of how organisations work.  It also involves how information strategists take into account people’s needs and behaviour.

This comprises leveraging information systems and information technology to maximise resources of information, to meet organisational objectives and individual requirements.   The globalisation of ICT (Information Communication Technology) had led to the integration of economies and societies around the world.

This has led to outsourcing of high-end knowledge intensive services to external agencies, independent of the location of the service provider and is called knowledge process outsourcing (KPO).

Sunrise sector

The need for information management has extended from the IT sector to sectors such as telecom, finance, pharma, KPO/ ITES, government, FMCG etc. The scope of organising, retrieving and archiving relevant information has become a necessity across sectors. Owing to the growing demand for information management professionals, it is emerging as a lucrative career.  The starting salary on offer from pure research organisations could be anywhere between Rs 4-6 lakh a year.  

Do you have it in you?

Analytical and logical reasoning skills, a keen interest to learn more about the industry, communication skills and project management skills are important to make a mark in this industry.

Students can pursue courses in information management immediately after completing their 10+2.  However, those who have completed BE or any other graduation programme can also pursue a Master’s programme in Information Management.

For example, a student who completes BE in Telecom or BCA can pursue IM and train to become a telecom analyst or a systems analyst.  Similarly a BCom graduate can foray into the financial sector upon completion of his programme and become a financial or business analyst. Something to keep in mind always is that students during their professional studies must learn the application of the course they are doing. Any course, institute or university designed to meet this prerequisite is the right place to be in.

Information management is one area which deals with the most strategic part of decision making, therefore this industry has not been bruised by the economic slowdown. The industry has actually grown by more than 30 per cent albeit with pressure on price. Last year, companies around the globe witnessed a slowdown but according to the Gartner report (2009), the business intelligence sector was thriving despite flagging IT budgets.

The IM roadmap

The typical career path in a market research or KPO company would start as:

* Analyst

* Senior Analyst

* Consultant

* Principal Consultant

* Vice President

However this would vary slightly with every organisation.  Availability of skilled talent has been India’s foremost attraction as a global sourcing country.  The number of young graduates in India has more than doubled in the past decade, with addition of 3.7 million graduates in 2010, a scale unmatched by any other country.

However there are some concerns over the suitability of talent, which is being addressed at the college-level and various programmes initiated by the industry.  There is an ever-growing need for skilled manpower in the field of information management, research and analysis across all major sectors such as technology, telecom, finance, pharma, KPO/ ITES, government, FMCG etc today.

Forrester Research estimates that the Master Data Management (MDM) market will be worth $1 billion in 2010 and is growing at a rate of 20 per cent a year. This explains why vendors from surrounding disciplines are encroaching into the MDM space.

If you have an analytical bent of mind and sound logical reasoning and are looking for a career which can give you a quick growth and good salary along with exciting and challenging opportunities, information management is the industry to be in.