Information Management Technology (IMT)

What Is Information Management Technology (IMT)?

Information management technology (IMT) refers to the processes, systems, hardware, and software a company uses to conduct its day-to-day operations. Information management technology is also considered a professional discipline where a student learns to manage the selection, distribution, and organization of all the technology and related process in a business environment.

The budget line encompassing all those systems and the costs of setting them up and maintaining them is referred to as information management technology. Information management technology is also referred to as information technology (IT), and information management and technology.

Understanding Information Management Technology (IMT)

Information management technology is a critical part of every business. It enables the big data type insights that drive business strategies, the precision underlying retail supply chain management, the records retention policy for compliance, and much more. There are very few business processes that do not depend or cannot benefit from information management technology.

Since information comes in both tangible, physical forms as well as electronically — and therefore, intangibly — companies need a way to manage all their data. That's where information management technology comes into play. It gives companies a way to manage their data regardless of its form. To get the most out of IMT, companies must keep their business strategies in line with the technology that they put into place.

IMT is commonly found in financial management, service management, as well as configuration management. But any company that relies on IMT must ensure its technology is safe and secure. Without taking the proper precautions, systems may be vulnerable to cyberattacks by hackers. For example, organizations such as retailers must put safeguards in place so their customers' information such as names and credit card numbers aren't stolen.

By centralizing the process and equipment, companies can function more efficiently, by allowing employees to concentrate on their own jobs without having the need to tend to data management. Although IMT does, it can lead to the redundancy and elimination of certain positions within the workforce. That's because some of the tasks that were once done by human labor may be replaced by computers and network systems.

Special Considerations

Information management technology is, as mentioned above, a discipline as well as a corporate function. It is often housed under a science program, but it can be part of a disciplinary specialty like a bachelor of health administration with a major in information management technology. Generally speaking, these programs cover:

There are also many specialties within information management and technology when it is considered as a career. Data scientists, for example, work with different data sources and sets to create insights, metrics, and key performance indicators.

Benefits of Information Management Technology

Information management technology is often considered to be a driver of organizational efficiency as technology has traditionally helped workers to be more productive with it than without it. As the applications of technology in business have multiplied, information management technology has been further segmented into more meaningful categories that capture the function of the technology being used. This includes the enterprise-class IMT like enterprise resource management, enterprise relationship management, and enterprise records management.

Any one of these sub-categories refers to a functional system that depends on hardware — computers, terminals, sensors, etc. — process such as training, auditing, and enforcement, and software. A large corporation will be running many of these systems, some of which will be purchased and some which are proprietary.

Workers in information management technology are considered part of the highly skilled workforce and are sometimes referred to as knowledge workers.

Computer network architects handle the creation and maintenance of a business's network, including administering remote access. Computer hardware engineers design hardware and configure machines in ways that optimize them for their specific function.