Development of a holistic model for the management of an enterprise’s information assets

Organisations increasingly realise that they must transform into true digital enterprises to create competitive advantage and ensure corporate survival. However, many organisations do not realise that successful digital transformation (DT) requires much more than technology; it can only succeed if they manage their data, information and knowledge as true business assets. This paper describes collaborative research conducted by academic and industry partners, a mutually beneficial journey spanning the past ten years. The aim was to develop a Holistic Information Asset Management (HIAM) model indicating the important areas of information asset management (IAM) that support the DT journey. Interviews were conducted with C-level executives in organisations from all industries on three continents to investigate their IAM practices, the barriers to good IAM and the benefits of managing information assets (IAs) well. This paper proposes that organisations should focus on ten domains in their quest for effective IAM: i) business benefits, ii) business environment, iii) executive awareness, iv) leadership and management, v) information environment, vi) information systems, vii) information behaviour, viii) information attributes/quality, ix) information performance and x) justification.