Forty-six percent of respondents ranked managing all information and
data as the most urgent driver, yet lack key skills to meet this
imperative
RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
While nearly half (46 percent) of federal information management
professionals cite managing all types of information assets, regardless
of format, as a priority for their field, many feel unprepared to
handle the future requirements of doing so. This according to a new
survey from Iron
Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM), the global leader in storage and
information management services. Iron Mountain conducted the study to
identify the government’s information management priorities for the next
3-5 years, share agency respondents’ feedback on where gaps exist and
deliver recommendations on how to improve on the necessary skillsets
required to succeed.
The survey also asked these professionals what skills would be required
– including specialized technical and soft skills – they believed could
position them for future effectiveness and success. More than half (56
percent) believe information security and access control will be in
greatest demand from information management professionals, followed by
data quality management (39 percent) and analytics capabilities –
including data sourcing and integration (39 percent). In
addition, projects related to data privacy (34 percent), records
and information management (RIM) (31 percent) and data analytics (30
percent) are in the greatest demand over the next three to five
years.
“This survey provides an important view into the state of federal
records and information management, both where the government is now in
terms of capabilities and, more importantly, where agencies need to
focus their information management practices in the future,” said
Michael J. Lewis, vice president and general manager, Iron Mountain
Government Services. “The Managing
Government Records Directive has set key deadlines for email in 2016
and permanent records in 2019 that have accelerated agency efforts to
make sure they have full control over all their information. However,
these challenges will continue to grow if left unchecked, and RIM
professionals will need to identify and close any gaps in their
skillsets to handle these future information challenges.”
The survey identified some key focus areas for future success, including:
-
Areas for improvement – Agencies recognize the need for
improvement of key skills in-demand. Risk management (34 percent)
is most often cited as an area for improvement, followed by electronic
records retention (24 percent) and RIM practices (24 percent)
-
Most desired skill sets – Risk management/security/data privacy
(54 percent), analytics (42 percent) and content/records
management (33 percent) are the most desired information
management skill sets over the next three to five years
-
Technical and soft skills in demand – Information security (52
percent) is by far the technical skill in greatest demand, while
innovative thinking (39 percent) came in as the soft skill in
demand the most. Fifteen percent noted they were very or
extremely weak in fostering stakeholder buy-in and in delivering
C-level and stakeholder communications
-
Impactful project management skills – Ensuring compliance (32
percent), physical and IT records format management integration (26
percent) and information and data valuation assessment (24
percent) are the project management skills estimated to have the
greatest impact on records management over the next 24 months
The data indicates there are significant gaps between the skills records
management professionals currently have and what they believe they will
need in the future. As such, agencies should consider focusing on the
following in order to close that gap:
-
Evangelize a more holistic approach to information management, and
prepare to sell it internally;
-
Meet the demand for specialized skills with a focus on information
security, quality management and analytics;
-
Focus on soft and technical skills in need of improvement, and
understand why improvement is needed;
-
Leverage the knowledge and mentoring skills of older staff before they
retire;
-
Provide professional development training in the formats employees
most prefer;
-
Create a forum for the sharing of ideas and best practices.
Conducted by market research company Market Connections, Inc. this blind
online survey of 200 federal employees included only respondents
knowledgeable or involved in day-to-day decisions and recommendations
regarding their organization’s records and data management. Respondent
agencies represented civilian government, the Department of Defense and
the Intelligence Community. For more information, including additional
survey results, white paper and associated infographic, visit www.ironmountain.com/NextGenIMPro.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM)
is the global leader for storage and information management services.
Trusted by more than 220,000 organizations around the world, Iron
Mountain boasts a real estate network of more than 80 million square
feet across more than 1,350 facilities in 45 countries dedicated to
protecting and preserving what matters most for its customers. Iron
Mountain’s solutions portfolio includes records
management, data
management, document
management, data
centers, art
storage and logistics, and secure
shredding, helping organizations to lower storage costs, comply with
regulations, recover from disaster, and better use their information.
Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of
information assets, including critical business documents, electronic
information, medical data and cultural and historical artifacts. Visit www.ironmountain.com
for more information.
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Source: Iron Mountain