Survey: U.S. government not prepared for future IM requirements.

• Position: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - Information management

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Many federal information management (IM) professionals feel unprepared to handle the future requirements of their jobs, according to the recent Iron Mountain survey report "Constructing the Next Generation Information Management Professional."

Iron Mountain said it conducted the study to identify the government's IM priorities for the next three to five years, share agency respondents' feedback on where gaps exist, and offer suggestions on how to improve on the necessary skillsets.

The survey asked these professionals what skills would be required for future effectiveness. More than half (56%) said they believe information security and access control will be in greatest demand from IM professionals, followed by data quality management (39%) and analytics capabilities--including data sourcing and integration (39%).

In addition, projects related to data privacy (34%), records and information management (RIM) (31%), and data analytics (30%) are thought to be in the greatest demand over the next three to five years.

"This survey provides an important view into the state of federal records and information management, both where the government is now in terms of capabilities and, more importantly, where agencies need to focus their information management practices in the future," said Michael J. Lewis, vice president and general manager, Iron Mountain Government Services.

The survey of 200 federal employees identified some key focus areas for future success, including:

* Areas for improvement: Risk management (34%) is most often cited, followed by electronic records retention (24%) and RIM practices (24%).

* Most desired skill sets: Risk management/security/data privacy...