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Shelter Chieza Change Management
I have often heard people exclaim that knowledge is power but it counts for nothing when business ethics are compromised. Most organisations struggle to deliver in an integrated information management environment. Understandably so, information management is not easy. The growth of electronic information era has made the management even more challenging?

Consider the automobile industry, a new car today is less and less the product of metal fabrication that it used to be.

Cars are now smart machines that use computer technology. In fact computer boxes installed on cars have totally changed the game to integrate safety, emissions, entertainment and performance. The computer games produced on assembly lines in Asian factories, with which teenage boys are so engrossed in, are sophisticated information processing devices that have both speed and graphics capability that exceeds the largest supercomputer of a decade ago.

Amazon.com with its innovative use of collaborative filtering that tells consumers what people with similar tastes are watching, listening to and reading depends simultaneously on a warehousing system out of the factory era and on an Internet based multi sophisticated system.

Often organisations purchase applications from different vendors to manage their information within departments.

Avoid this at all costs. It confuses not only your employees but also may not achieve the intended purpose. How then would you deal with a situation that a system has crashed if your admin records, accounts, sales, logistics are all bundled up in a single solution.

Avoid using a single information system for all challenges regardless of whether it is an appropriate solution.

I have often seen organisations that purchase a product or system as a once off solution because it is cheaper. Remember business requirements change over time. Organisations must stop looking for quick fixes from vendors that are obviously selling their products. They are obviously going to sugar coat how efficient and reliable the system is, how fast and easy it is, and promise you that it will never fail you. Be sure to ask questions on backup as most of them fail in this regard.

Organisations are too complex, consider all factors when developing strategies. This may mean that in addition to your new system, there may be a lot of amendments and small changes that support the system. All this requires strong leadership that has a clear direction of where the organization is going. Have clear direction of how the organisation will operate not just on how the system will work. Technology must be controlled and managed just like any other competitive weapon. When projects are solely driven by the acquisition and deployment of new technology, you will notice that leadership will be lacking.

Information management systems are successful when they are used by staff. If staff must save all key filed on the server, let it be done. The front line staff must be taught to capture call details in the customer relationship management system. Management has a role to clearly communicate to all staff the purpose and benefits of the project. Most advanced economies are moving from tangible goods to intangible or simply information goods.

In certain organisations, human interaction is very rare at the point of calling because humans have been replaced by CD-Roms that direct your call to your intended department. A country’s measure of how much it values information is often seen by the number of patents it registers. Much of the intellectual capital we have in Zimbabwe is unregistered.

For the few that have been registered, much of them have been coming from the same discipline or fields. If we were at the peak of innovation and experimenting with new ideas, we would have had new fields registering their patents.

I was quite thrilled to discover that Japanese companies rarely have problems with managing their information systems. I had to do a little research on why this was so, only to discover that they viewed their IT as a competitive leverage. Closer to home I truly believe that if we were to make information management as a competitive tool, we must ensure that the investment is made simple and easily quantifiable. I cannot count the number of times I have visited one of my worst bankers that I am stuck with because of a loan I have to repay telling me that their system is down and I have to visit “my branch”.

Needless to say, the Japanese know how to treat their customers that place a premium on freshness. Thus the just in time technology process was introduced. Just in time is an information management system that allows a business to be extraordinarily responsive to customers’ shifting tastes.

How easy would it be to manage a business that reminds you what to supply based on volumes already sold or the changing weather conditions or the type of clientele purchasing from you in that season. This sophisticated point of sale data collection system and electronic ordering system is amazing. As a manager information management starts right from the way you manage your inbox empty. Avoid information over loads. You cannot manage an organisation information system before you personally organise oneself. In my previous job I used to receive over one hundred emails a day and much of the day would be spend responding till I put a cap limit to no more than 45 minutes per day on emails. Information is still power, and he who has power has control.

Till next week, May God richly bless you

Shelter Chieza is a Management Advisor. She can be contacted on [email protected]