The document discusses the three major phases of information management:
1) The first wave ("monolith") involved centralizing all documents and content in a single repository, creating the first data silos.
2) The second wave ("unification") recognized that unstructured content constitutes parts of a greater whole and should be connected.
3) The third wave ("integration") seamlessly integrates purpose-built information management capabilities directly into the user interfaces of various business applications like Office 365, Salesforce, and SAP to further simplify information retrieval. This provides an additional layer of context through the business application user interface.
2. Importance of management information system in terms of business context?
We are entering the third of three major phases of information management, each increasingly
more sophisticated and powerful, and each with new and greater potential to impact a business’s
bottom line.
Information is exploding, and, like a big bang, it can’t be contained. Witness the growth of all
kinds of data, as in documents, databases, and emails, and in the chats, streams, and tweets of
social media. According to a recent IDC report, worldwide data is projected to grow by 61
percent by 2025.
Technology for managing information - which includes organizing, securing, collaborating on
and processing documents and other information - has evolved over time. Now we are entering
the third of three major phases of information management, each increasingly more sophisticated
and powerful, and each with new and greater potential to impact a business’s bottom line.
The first wave: The monolith
A single central repository for all information — and the proliferation of data silos. In 1990,
Documentum was founded, which one could consider the first enterprise document management
software company. In time, document management came to be known as Enterprise Content
Management (ECM). The first wave of information management was characterized primarily by
a goal of moving all documents and other unstructured content into a single central storage
location or repository. All documents and content would be in one place, and it would be easy to
find and manage. Unfortunately, it was often isolated from other data sources and systems in use.
The first silo was born.
The second wave: Unification
The second wave, which I refer to as Unification, emerged over time, starting around the
mid-2000s, with the realization that unstructured content, e.g., documents, images, and other
content, while in separate files, constituted parts of a greater whole. The Unification phase is best
described by example. A contract or proposal is a critical step in furthering a deal with a
prospect. Assume that all data and transactions about the deal are being managed in a CRM or
ERP system.
The third wave: Integration
The third wave we’ll describe as Integration, and it follows logically from the second wave of
Unification. This is all about integrating elements from the first two waves into a single common
user interface – not the user interface of the information management system (or CSP, as Gartner
calls it), but the user interface of other core line-of-business applications. In short, this
integration brings about a “frontend-neutral” approach that further simplifies information
retrieval. How? The idea is that purpose-built information management capabilities are
integrated seamlessly into the user interfaces of other applications - such as Office 365,
Salesforce, G-Suite, SharePoint, Teams, NetSuite, SAP, QuickBooks, Workday or Esri
ArcGIS.In addition to the context established by metadata and relationships to important
3. business objects such as customers, projects and cases, a new layer of context is now part of the
picture, the context of the user interface of the line-of-business application.