​Well… the AI Revolution is off and running. And with it, our workplaces now have new terms and concepts. Following are two terms which I run into regularly as a data management expert:
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• AI slop - Coined in the 2020s, the term has a pejorative connotation similar to spam. "Slop" was selected as the 2025 Word of the Year by both Merriam-Webster and the American Dialect Society.
• AI Hallucinations - a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact.

Even though I’ve been a data management professional for 30 years, this story in Analytics Magazine was an eye opener. Don’t get me wrong. I get calls all the time from people who don’t trust the data they’re working with. But, 48% is pretty stark when one considers the large scale implications of using information you can’t trust to make important decisions.
 
48% should be a number that humbles us all. For decades, those of us in the information management world have asserted “garbage in, garbage out”. But, truth be told we can’t simply blame shoddy data input for lack of accurate information. User input is definitely one factor, but there’s more to the problem.

​Data is dynamic. That is the first rule of data management. Information changes over time, the information organizations need to make decisions evolves, shifts and varies as well. Employees come and employees go. With new employees, and evolving work teams, new preferences for managing information emerge. 

​One question that I occasionally get is: “What is the difference between MS Excel and MS Access”?
 
Access is as old as Excel. Professionals can purchase Access as part of some Office 365 packages. Many professionals have MS Access on their computer, but don’t know how to use it, or even why they should consider using Access. 

​Rapid Application Development or "RAD", is important to your bottom line. Specifically RAD speaks to the time it takes to develop software applications. Generally speaking, the fewer hours required for developing a custom data management solution, the better it is on your budget. For your organization, RAD is an important concept when considering in-house custom software development.

Sharing (or not sharing) information can be a major area of contention in any office. Just as in all other areas of human interaction, egos come into play. All too often control over data is affiliated with control in other areas of office life. Also, individuals in an office may feel that control over information is equivalent to job security.

​However, multiple people in the same office may need regular access to the same information. These folks may feel as though excluded from data sharing even though they aren't fully aware of the work involved in maintaining and legitimately protecting important information. They may forget that there are real (and very serious) reasons for limiting access to information in an office environment.