The Management of Information Resources — A Challenge for American Business

Managing the resources — people, machines, technologies, and ideas — required to deal with business information has become a task so large and complex that a new perspective is needed for both management and professional communities. This article develops a framework for a better understanding of what needs to be done and why, based on a historical view of the information management arts and sciences. This framework is also based on a resulting organizational structure with the potential of avoiding many difficulties traditionally encountered in American industry. Several critical factors are identified and supported which must be addressed in order for the enterprise to derive adequate returns from its large and growing investment in the resources of information management. A profile of the information professional of the future is developed as the most critical prerequisite for meeting the information challenges of the 1980’s, and some implementation strategies are recommended for the successful launching of the types of information systems which will have genuine and measurable impact on the firm’s productivity.