Maybe some good is already coming out of the credit crunch?
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Further evidence supporting the ‘information tipping point’ emerges…
Since starting back after the holidays, I have noticed an increasing flow of emails and phone calls from agencies doing searches for, Information Management (IM), Data Architect and Data Quality Management type roles. – (brand new / 'greenfield' roles). The search for related technology tools such as data profiling and the new ‘wonder solution’ MDM (Master Data Management) also seem to be on the up.
Digging a little deeper the emerging picture is that in trying to respond to the developing financial crisis, companies have found it difficult or impossible to provide management with the information they ask/need to steer the organisation through these troubled times.
Some are still responding in the same old way they always have done and are looking for an IT led ‘quick fix recipe’ e.g. implement a Data Quality programme around tools such as MDM or data profilers. Those further up the Information Management ‘maturity curve’ however are encouragingly taking a Business led and Strategic approach where the FD/MD is doing the recruiting!
Instead of looking for a pure ‘techie’, these organisations are looking for people who understand the old, People, Process Technology views of the world, but also want to see experience in, Data, Information, Policies & Procedures, Compliance, Security, Governance, Organisation Design, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Quality Management, Measures & Rewards, KPI’s, Business Transformation, etc. They are looking for people who can act as the ‘go-between’ between Business, IT and supplier; people who understand programme management and change management. People who can develop roadmaps, are good facilitators and who can ‘evangelise’, deliver tangible results, make the invisible visible, and win ‘hearts and minds’ up/down and across the organisation. International experience is desirable, and they are also looking for people who can steer clear of politics, are tenacious, able to ask the difficult questions and deliver transformational change by being an invisible leader!
Do these IM super(wo)men exist? If they do, are these organisations really in enough pain to change yet, or are they just looking to hand out accountability so they have someone to blame, publicly sacrifice and ultimately keep the status quo?
Salary is always a good indicator. Those taking the old silo ‘IT and Tools’ led approaches still seem to be stuck in the £45k to £65k package land – lets face it guys, your doomed before you start!
Those organisations looking to move in a strategic direction are valuing these roles from £95k to £120 base + bonuses and bens. Whilst salary alone is not a good determinator of whether or not some one is effective, it is an encouraging indicator that Information and Data are perhaps at last being taken seriously by the Business - it's a valuable and key business asset and as such demands senior level Business accountability/responsibility.
It is of course sad that it takes a crisis like the one currently unfolding for people to start to get the ‘blindingly obvious’, but hey ho… That’s Life / progress :-)
