Competitive Intelligence: Bridging Organizational Boundaries

Information Management Journal, Mar/Apr 2004 by Myburgh, Sue

The RIM professional can no longer be confined to managing records in isolation, without an awareness of how this can be used in the competitive environment outside the organization. RIM professionals are perfectly placed to ensure appropriate information is identified as key intelligence and is communicated proactively to the responsible decisionmaker. This means moving beyond managing records and supplying documents on demand; it implies intelligent understanding of the content of the documents that RIM professionals deal with and accurate appreciation of the value of records beyond their evidential role. RIM professionals are also well-placed to ensure that counter-intelligence procedures are developed, those which might go well beyond security considerations. The RIM professional must look beyond organizational boundaries in order to understand the strategic and competitive importance of the records that are handled on a daily basis.

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Sue Myburgh is Senior Lecturer and Program Director, Knowledge Management, at the University of South Australia-Adelaide School of Communication, Information, and New Media. She may be contacted at sue.myburgh@unisa.edu.au.