Information Governance ANZ has announced results of its second survey on trends in Australia and New Zealand, which found that implementing an IG framework is the most important priority for organisations, with the three main drivers of IG projects identified as good business management practices (up 16% on the 2017 survey), external regulatory, compliance or legal obligations and internal technology restructuring or transition.

Over 40% of respondents also indicated that privacy regulatory changes, such as the GDPR and Australia’s NDB Scheme had been a driver of their current IG projects.

Just over half the respondents said their organisation uses a formal IG framework with policies and procedures. Almost three-quarters of the respondents’ organisations have IG projects underway or planned in the next year, with a third indicating they are expecting to increase their IG spend this financial year.

The IG Survey highlights that implementing an IG framework is the most important priority for organisations, with the three main drivers of IG projects identified as good business management practices (up 16% on the 2017 survey), external regulatory, compliance or legal obligations and internal technology restructuring or transition. Over 40% of respondents also indicated that privacy regulatory changes, such as the GDPR and Australia’s NDB Scheme had been a driver of their current IG projects.

Information Governance ANZ Executive Director Susan Bennett said, “IG appears to have matured since our initial survey, with over half assessing their IG programs as intermediate or advanced in maturity and a similar percentage ranking their IG programs as proactive rather than reactive. It is clear there is a growing recognition and investment being made in both the formal IG framework as well as IG projects to maximise the value and minimise the risk of information. Clearly a proactive enterprise-wide information governance framework, which is well implemented will deliver the greatest return on investment.“

Three quarters of the respondents agreed with the view that IG as an umbrella concept that describes all information management activities.

A significant majority of organisations surveyed have at least one IG project in motion, or planned across the next 12 months. Government organisations were the most likely to be working on or planning IG projects, with 78% answering yes, compared to 64% of corporates and 73% of not-for-profits.

Whilst the terms ‘information governance’ and ‘data governance’ are still rarely used in job titles, there has been an of 5% and 10% respectively since 2017.  Responses showed a correlation between organisations that have addressed IG leadership and those with a an individual accountable for IG with IG or DG in their title, with 32% of this subset of respondents indicating one of these terms is included within the applicable employee’s job title.

The 2019 IG Survey engaged over 340 industry professionals with 85% in Australia and 8% in New Zealand.  

The full report is available HERE.