Companies Mistake IM for IT- Oyedokun

Dr. Oyedokun Ayodeji Oyewole, president, Records and Information Management Awareness (RIMA) Foundation, has bemoaned the level of negligence among individuals and corporate organizations of the need to distinguish information management from information technology (IT).

He made the remark during the foundation’s quarterly training for document and information managers in Nigeria held in Lagos recently.

According to him, companies have recorded losses due to the misconception that information management is all embraced in IT.
 “Each time you ask companies about information management the first thing that comes to their minds is the IT department, they are settled with that. But it is a terrible misconception. That a company has IT department, network, hardware, or other peripheries is not enough. There is a need to have a structure in place that will harness information coming from different sources.

“Such sources could be from clients, government, suppliers, the community; the truth is that knowingly or unknowingly, you are generating information or data that could either make or mar your company if not properly handled,” Oyedokun said.

He said that such information could also come in the form of email, proposals, letters, etc., but they come in different forms, hardcopy or softcopy.

“They require proper handling. Those organizations have that consciousness of the imperatives of proper information management, in Nigeria for instance, my answer is that a lot of them are yet to understand.

“What is the essence of having information, if not to make informed decisions? Assuming we have Company XYZ that produces five different goods. The amount of information harnessed on the goods behaviours at the market will help the management make decision on whether to continue with a particular product line, change the packaging, rebrand or redesign the concept.

“I have never met anybody that says information is not important. Even as individuals, there are certain information you generate that are very important or are for use in the life time, like the birth certificate, results, receipts,” he added.

The RIMA President maintained that for a sheer reason the society is not careful with the handling of information and documents, “we have in one way or the other promoted extortion. When you do not have a receipt to a particular commodity what do you expect from the police; he would extort from the person. Is either you let go of the product or get delayed.

“How about holding government accountable? Corruption cannot be totally eliminated in the society, but when the public are equipped with information they could hold government to accountability.

“The information management field has the potential of creating 200,000 jobs. I am not talking about positions, but there are different designations that could open up the system to employ people. Just like we have accountants working at different cadres in offices, so we can have information managers.

He said that RIMA foundation has been on the forefront of promoting this course in Nigeria and hopefully before the end of June, the Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa would have kicked off. The essential goal is to set industrial standards, he said.