In his recent Wikibon post following a July 28 Peer Incite: Prevent Unstructured Data from Fueling Business Risk, Dave Vallente warns CIOs of what he calls the “data management trap”.  Thankfully, Dave provided an overview for those of us who were unable to participate.

I agree with Dave that “the starting point for an information management strategy should not be the technology implementation”.  However, I would add that a CIO is not the appropriate person for the job.

In response to Dave’s post I wrote:

“Information management responsibilities should not be delegated to the CIO unless an organization has absolutely no other alternative. The CIO has the wrong skill set and mindset, and in my opinion, a conflict of interest despite some obvious potential synergies.

Back in April I wrote a brief response to Chuck Hollis’s State of the CIO blog post.

Here’s an excerpt…

‘Chief Information Officer - quite possibly one of the greatest business misnomers of all time.

I’m still waiting for someone to explain the role of the ‘I’ in CIO. The word infrastructure is far more appropriate given the CIO’s focus…perhaps with a dotted line to information…

Savvy companies understand that information usually has no ‘real’ champion at the executive table…certainly not the CIO whose skillset is generally not appropriate for, and whose directives may be at odds with, sound corporate information management. Those who can afford to establish roles primarily responsible for IM (e.g., Chief Knowledge Officer or Chief Preservation Officer) eventually do.

If CKOs and CPOs are the architects of IM, you can think of CIOs as the general contractors…

I believe it is absolutely essential that EMC help its customers understand that information stewardship and accountability must be elevated to the C-level. And I would strongly advise against adding these to the CIO’s already hefty list of responsibilities.

Let’s talk about the state of the state of information stewardship and accountability.’

Putting information management decisions into the hands of a CIO is like putting life or death medical decisions into the hands of a health insurer. It’s a long-term recipe for failure.”

What are your thoughts about information management roles and responsibilities? Join the conversation over at Wikibon

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