Seven lessons for effective information management

Collaborative working improves operational effectiveness, knowledge sharing and project delivery, all of which enable organisations deliver value to their clients. This is particularly important as the global business challenges architecture and engineering organisations face will increasingly require greater value to be obtained from less resource. Achieving this in a knowledge economy requires improvements in the nature of content as well as the processes and media through which often large volumes of information are created and managed. Organisations have over time developed and implemented various interventions ranging from point technology implementations to reorganising entire business processes to achieve this end, with varying degrees of success and failure. The findings from a qualitative study into the key lessons in developing and implementing effective information management strategies across organisations are presented herein. Nine expert practitioners from large UK-based architecture and engineering organisations were interviewed, the outputs of which were analysed using thematic analysis techniques. Seven key themes emerged. The findings provide much needed practical insights for practitioners and managers developing and implementing information management strategies across organisations. They show that improving collaborative working and information management to gain strategic advantages requires a holistic approach which aligns information needs with the organisations operational strategy.