Encouraging good Information Management behaviours

Is there potential to influence information management users through the effective application of recharge models?

Prolific blogger Chuck Hollis has a very interesting and thought provoking post on the subject. He suggests that rather than just thinking about recharging as a way to pay for the cost of IT or IM, we should be thinking in terms of using pricing models that influence and encourage users and the business to behave "nicely".

He suggests that there are three types of recharge models that he comes across when talking to organisations.

• Let the business choose what they want and send them the bill
• Service catalogue model with established price lists for various classes of services based on the cost of service provision
• Service catalogues and associated pricing that is more oriented to changing business behaviour.

The second model is good but extending this further to the third model is a very nice idea and can be potentially applied to the world of information management just as well as traditional IT. The business are encouraged perhaps to use standard applications and data stores through lower recharges than for non-standard systems, or charged high rates when data set versions go over a certain threshold.

For me it is a interesting concept and having just recently helped put together a presentation on how to get information users to behave nicely it is very timely! It also highlights to me the importance of a business (recharge) model and the service catalogue when building an effective information management organisation!  They are the elements that will give you the second model above and allow an effective discussion with the business on services and associated costs, but also open up the potential to use this understanding to influence behaviour.

We do need to be careful that we don’t turn the relationship with the business even more confrontational than it often already is. To manage this, as Chuck points out, will mean having people capable of holding such business oriented discussions with the relevant business managers.

So can we influence information management users through the effective application of recharge models? Let me know what you think.