There has been much discussion regarding the need for tight data management and security in the past few years, especially as major instances of information exposure, loss and theft strike with increasing frequency. Organizations have appeared to struggle to strike a balance between effective content management and information governance, which can hold a firm back from maximizing its intelligence within decision-making. 

The trick is finding a way to converge strategies leveraging the support of an automated solution, then enabling proper use with staff preparation and training. Remember, no content management or information governance strategy is going to succeed when the employees tasked with handling it do not have all of the support and knowledge they need to make the policies fly, while a lack of automation can place strain on certain departments as well. 

What is the hold up?
FierceContentManagement recently explained that traditional approaches to information governance are likely holding firms back from reaching optimal performance in the content management arena. According to the news provider, companies are either shying away from information governance altogether or not advancing their policies and capabilities in a way that yields legitimate improvements in security, analytics and other relevant procedures. 

In fact, the source cited the comments of AIIM's former chief information officer, Laurence Hart, who believes that the discussions regarding information governance and content management have not been effective in many regards, and that the same types of issues are going to continue to occur should decision-makers not think more progressively. One way to look at this is that the private sector has evolved significantly, but many firms have not yet started to catch up to modern demands, specifically in terms of data and information management. 

FierceContentManagement argued that the real tipping point will be when best practices are solidified in this regard, and the conversations evolve from the circular pattern they have perpetuated thus far. 

Which solutions can help?
Automated data and document capture, along with a wealth of other workflow and content management solutions, can swiftly improve a company's ability to handle governance and oversight in a progressive fashion. When these tools are implemented, teams, and more importantly IT departments, will have more time to focus on the creation and refinement of effective strategies and policies to continue improving as the years go on.