Information managers: Are you using the right tool for your job?

Each profession has its own tailor-made tools that enable them to be productive and, in many cases, creative.

• Engineers have CAD programs
• Designers have illustration software
• Salespeople have CRM software.

But what tools do information managers have to help them to be productive and creative?

Microsoft Office and other similar business suites were once the answer. But in the new world of work, they aren’t enough any more. They reinforce straight-jacketed, linear thinking and don’t enable us to analyze, manipulate, organize and build upon information in ways that are becoming more important every day.

As output tools, Word, PowerPoint and Excel are still quite relevant to businesses today. But as thinking tools, well – let’s just be kind and say that they were never designed to do that. Lateral thinking? Associative thinking? White space thinking? Not much help at all.

The tool that meets the multi-dimensional thinking and processing needs of today’s information managers is mind mapping software.