How are you getting on with managing your information?
All of us rely on information in our personal and working lives, but the issues associated with 'information management' (that includes technology, and systems, and a heap of other things) are many and extend from an understanding of the base technologies that are used, right through to questions of business strategy. Joining all the dots is not easy.
The answer is to try and find the connections between technology, the information systems that serve our needs, and the strategic objectives of the business.
The IMBOK provides an easily-understood framework that relates information technology opportunities to business strategies in a helpful, staged way. It positions and isolates problems and allows ideas to move more easily from consideration of raw technologies right through to issues of business strategy. Will that help you?
But, who are you? And what are your issues?
Teacher?It is reported that the level of students' interest in information systems has been reducing. How are your yearly intake numbers? Dropping? Either way, the IMBOK solves the problem of contextualising IT and IS investments, by easily identifying the many links between IT and IS investments and the 'real world'. That helps learners to see things in a proper context. If you design your teaching around the IMBOK you will find that it gives structure, positions specific issues, isolates them, and lets you and your students see them in context. It joins the dots for the purpose of learning |
Student?If you are looking at this web then you must be studying or researching information systems issues. Are you struggling to make sense of the context for information technology and systems? The IMBOK reaches all the way from issues of raw supply (of technology) to the strategic drivers that make organisations want to spend money. Even if you are looking at researching something as specific as cyber security the IMBOK unpacks the different kinds of risk and guides approaches to dealing with it See the many selected research papers that are introduced and summarised within the domain description pages. They are generally available using Google Scholar |
Business manager?You are probably busy with your own work and hoping that your IT department has everything under control. Do you think that they do? It's complicated, isn't it? The IMBOK reveals an important fact: it is not possible to 'align your IT and business strategies' in any simple way. There are no fewer than four critical junctions where things can go horribly wrong. Have a quick look at a short paper that describes how a large Bank surveyed IT and IS confidence (and capability). Then, look at the IMBOK framework in detail and use it to position your own concerns so that your boundaries of control become clearer. First, you could check out the issues of business benefits |
IT Manager?OK - you're in the hot seat! However, research has shown that the average IT manager or CIO has difficulty in operating effectively in the board room, with senior management. You need the right tools to get your messages through. This is where the IMBOK will help you. It shows the specific connections and dependencies between your IT expenditure and the strategic benefits that the organisation seeks. There are ten domains of competency that will, when you understand them, bring persuasion to your arguments in the board room. Have a look at the 'far end' - issues of strategy - See how far it is from 'IT'! |
The target audience for the IMBOK includes people in business, in government, and in education: managers in specialist IT areas and in the organisation at large; teachers and researchers in academia; everybody who needs to manage information. Take time out of your routine to think about information management and the tools you can use to deal with it more effectively.
There is a new paradigm out there. The IMBOK enables a shared understanding and provides solid foundations for management, for education and for research.
(Click on the figure below to navigate the pages on this web - they explain the domains of the IMBOK)
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