The functions of various departments in an organization may at times prove conflicting. The functions of a department may be set in such a way that they conflict with those of the other departments. For instance, the functions of the information technology (IT) department in any organization are normally to ensure effective data storage, management, and maintenance. On the other hand, the operations department is mandated with planning the operations of the organizations while using and giving data from the IT department. The determination of how user data thus fall within the jurisdiction of the operations department. This can potentially lead to a conflict between the operations department and the IT department. This problem is solved by the Information Lifecycle Management (ILM).
Information Lifecycle Management is an approach used in data management that ensures that there is a sustainable balance between the cost of keeping and managing data and the value of the data to the organization. Like any other management philosophy, this strategy is partly new but its use in solving IT-related problems within organizations is of amazing effectiveness (StorageTek.com, 2005, p. 2). The Information Lifecycle Management process includes the following: accurate determination of the information storage requirements of the organization, comparison, and reconciliation of information storage requirements with the space available for storage, and ensuring accountability of data by developing organization-wide data rules. These steps are primarily meant to preserve data but they perform several other functions as well. The most commendable additional function they perform is the safeguarding of the relationship between departments (Arnold, 2009, p. 1).
The contribution of Information Lifecycle Management to the maintenance of interdepartmental relationships is dependent on rules for ensuring accountability of data. These rules, touching on both data storage and data use, are an integral part of the ILM and they are formulated within the organization for their appropriateness in achieving an effective ILM. As stated above, the choice of these rules forms a thin line between the presence and absence of conflict among department managers of the organization. It is thus of essence that data use and management rules involve details of interdepartmental communication and cooperation. Information Lifecycle Management touches all parts of data. These include management, use, storage, and transfer protocols which are essential in minimizing the occurrences of interdepartmental conflicts due to different and conflicting functions. For instance, detailed rules should exist in the Information Lifecycle Management system showing who between the IT department and the operations department has the final decision over data. That is, who decides what to do to data when the IT department defends its preservation and the data is declared useless by the operations department (StorageTek.com 2005, p. 2)?
As described earlier, Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) has a commendable contribution to the reduction of functional frictions between departments in an organization. Although it is IT-based, it acts as a mediator between the IT and operations departments during times of conflict. With the inevitability of the hand-in-hand operation of the IT department and the operations department of any organization, organizations need to have an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) system in place. Without this kind of system, friction will be felt between these two departments, and this will have a negative overall effect on the productivity of the organization.
Reference
Arnold, F. (2009). Information Lifecycle Management (ILM). Web.
StorageTek.com. (2005). Information Lifecycle Management vision. Web.