The Role of the Strategic Information Officer in the Information and Data Economy.

These are interesting times, we currently live in the age of learning machines.

In the information economy, organizations that gather so much data and that can learn from that data will have the competitive edge.

We now need more literature from strategy scholars and practitioners. The new literature must show how data is impacting organizational strategy.

Organizational functions and projects that generate most data will be the ones that will receive the best improvement.

Organizations for competitive reasons must be designed and structured such that decisions will be taken at the point where data is generated.

Departments, functions or teams that generate the most data will be different from other parts of the organization.

They will have different group dynamics and their culture will be at little or significant variance with the other departments.

We can see that data differentiates.

This is not ideal for organizational health and internal strategic identity- this means that employees may develop confusion about goals if the differentiation is too marked.

The solution is to create a role called "Strategic Information Officers" this people will serve as integrators of the various parts of the organization.

They must understand the social and economic changes data confers on the organization.

Their primary role is to unite the organization based on the qualitative changes that data is causing.

They will communicate new findings across units while making business and strategic sense of all the changes.

They will be the change management ambassadors because of the trust they will have engendered in the organization.

Organizations must lead change using this people.

They must drawn from operational and middle levels of the organization because they are close to generation and effects of data on organizational strategy.

They will report through mid-level managers to a manager at the strategic level of the organization.

An increase in data must come with a different level of responsibility and new models of communication.

Communication must be designed to become more interpersonal and every employee must become a part of the serendipity equation of the organization.

The Strategic Information Officers will seek diffuse information, stimulate creativity amongst colleagues and promote a culture where everyone becomes an environmental scannner for the organization.

The Data Oil age needs Strategic Information Officers to promote organizational effectiveness and market leadership.

If you are a mid-level manager and you want to use this in your presentations or suggest it to strategic management reach out.

Email is onikoyihamilton@gmail.com.