Information Environment

The information environment is a construct based upon the idea that the existence and proliferation of information and information systems creates a distinct operating dimension or environment. As a combination of tangible (physical information systems and networks) and intangible elements (information and decision-making), the information environment is both a resource for military operations and a medium in which armed forces operate. In addition, an information environment incorporates all the factors affecting how an organization deals with information. It addresses all of a company's values and beliefs about information, how people actually use information and what they do with it, the pitfalls that can interfere with information sharing and use, and the technology and information systems that are in place. A broad perspective is necessary to understand the impact of intangibles because addressing intangible assets and capabilities will require changes in and adaptations to regulation, governance, attitudes and behaviors—in addition to systems and technologies.

That is why; the most intangible element of the information environment – information – is of supreme importance. This is because, in spite of its lack of physical existence, the content and flow of information within a specific geographic area produces real, tangible effects in the physical world. For these reasons, our understanding of the information environment must ultimately include how information content and flow affect the execution of military operations.

To rationally analyze the information environment and the relationship between its constituent elements, a framework is needed to organize our view of the environment. For this purpose, a model – the three domains of conflict – physical, information, and cognitive – that, in sum, explain the importance of information to military operations and, for the purposes of analysis, the character of the information environment.

The physical domain is the real world environments of land, sea, air, and space. It is where maneuver and conventional combat operations occur. As part of the information environment, it is where individuals, organizations, information systems, and the physical networks that support them reside.

The cognitive domain is where individual and organizational collective consciousness exists. It is where information is used to form perceptions and attitudes and make decisions. The information domain is formed by the intersection of the physical and cognitive domains, and is the abstract space where information exists. The domain consists of information and is where the functions of information systems (i.e., information collection, processing, and dissemination) create information content and flow. The information domain is the link between the reality of the physical domain and human perceptions and decision-making in cognitive domain.

Since people like us are also important to an information environment, we may consider us the peopleware that may belong to the intangible environment. If companies are going to begin to manage intangibles-oriented information successfully as part of their journey to become high-performance businesses, they will need to change many aspects of their information environments.

A new information strategy can set the tone for the overall changes. It should specify what new information entities the organization plans to collect and report on, and perhaps what information the organization will de-emphasize. The organization's intent relative to external reporting of the information should also be stated in its information strategy.

New information processes will be needed to generate and validate new information about intangible assets and capabilities. It's unlikely that all the information will already exist within the organization. For example, if the organization decides to regularly collect and manage information on its brand equity, it may need to initiate external surveys of customers to produce the information.

Organizations will need to develop a new performance anatomy, comprising a new information culture and set of behaviors. Perhaps the most important cultural and behavioral change will involve executives, who must begin to manage their businesses based on intangibles information. There is little use in having better information about human capital, for example, if managers don't try to act on it more effectively over time in a way that improves performance.

A new set of information entities will certainly lead to change in a company's information architecture, including its business applications. New metrics for growing intangible value will necessitate changes to business performance measurement systems. Enhancing management's decision-making capabilities to monitor and analyze intangible value will require improved business applications and analytic tools. These technologies, in turn, depend upon consistent, accurate information about intangible resources. This information will either need to be derived from existing databases, or new databases, and data warehouses must be constructed. Some of the intangibles information may be found externally and would need to be integrated with internal information before it can be useful.

Futhermore, we believe that changes in information governance may be necessary with an entirely new class of information. Governance issues around information appear naturally with any change in the balance of information power. Those who have their power wrapped up in financial information, for example, may well resist the new focus on intangibles. As evidence of the importance of information governance, at one firm that developed a balanced scorecard, a certain company had the new scorecard shut down while its developer (the director of quality) was on vacation! Whether this was a good idea or not, it certainly points out the need for attention to resolving political disputes.

In efforts to drive high performance, this overall model can be used to plan and assess an organization's movement toward intangible asset and capability management in relation to the information environment. We believe that pioneering companies that master all aspects of the management of intangible assets will be able to attain higher levels of business performance. In subsequent research, we'll describe how several aspects of this change may play out in detail, and provide examples of high-performance businesses and other leading organizations that have begun to manage information about intangible assets.

Finally, there is a need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.

Sources:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment.aspx

http://www.accenture.com/Global/Research_and_Insights/Institute_For_High_Performance_Business/By_Subject/Strategy/TheAssetManagement.htm