Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Summary
We hear a lot of talk about “digital transformation.” But isn’t that what we’ve been doing since the Web emerged in the late 1990s? Why is this still so aspirational for so many organizations? In his consulting practice with Factor, Bram Wessel sees first-hand how enterprise-scale organizations are awakening to the reality that the information itself that drives experiences and gets implemented in technologies —the Information Layer, if you will— is increasingly a tangible organizational asset. As such, it’s as critical as any other kind of infrastructure. Bram joins Lou to ponder where we’ve been and where we might be headed in the realm of enterprise information architecture.
Key Insights
-
•
Information architecture evolved through three eras: technology, experience, and now the information era.
-
•
Early enterprise IA efforts were often undervalued, seen as an afterthought to implementing technology like CMS.
-
•
The information era recognizes information as a core organizational asset with real fiscal and strategic value.
-
•
Successful IA requires organizational alignment combining grassroots practitioners and senior champions.
-
•
Governance and a clear roadmap are critical to maintaining evolving information models within enterprises.
-
•
E-commerce taxonomy cannot simply be copied from merchandising structures; customer-facing navigation needs different taxonomies.
-
•
Many large organizations operate multiple unaligned information architectures across various systems causing costly data quality issues.
-
•
Enterprise IA maturity can be modeled in five stages from accidental silos to mastery with continuous improvement.
-
•
Taxonomy and ontology management tools like Synaptica, PoolParty, and Semaphore enable flexible, shared information models.
-
•
Fast-paced agile environments require parallel tracks for production and information strategy development with stable onboarding processes.
Notable Quotes
"There was a naive belief that just implementing content management systems would automatically make great experiences possible."
"We’re entering an information era because information itself is infrastructure and has actual monetary value."
"You need both a bottom-up and a top-down approach to achieve organizational alignment for information architecture."
"Customers can’t buy products they can’t find, and often that’s because product content isn’t related to non-product content."
"Organizational information models need to grow and be managed, not treated as static deliverables."
"Our role often feels like being information therapists – understanding pain and helping clients align their information."
"The first stage we see is the accidental stage with silos and no consistent information across the organization."
"Mastery means information is a strategic asset with quantifiable equity central to business identity and operations."
"You don’t need everyone to agree on every term, but you need governance to decide roles and approvals."
"In agile, you can’t move fast and break information strategy; you need a parallel track to feed changes into production."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"When you market UX research, you prove and show your value, make your company smarter by your insights, and create advocates."
Molly FargotsteinMultipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing
September 12, 2019
"We gather on the traditional land of the Karnasi and the Lonepe peoples, honoring with gratitude those who stewarded this land."
Dave MaloufClosing Keynote: Amplify. Not Optimize.
October 24, 2019
"If you use these chat interfaces, your data might be used for training, but API access can preserve privacy."
Jorge ArangoAI as Thought Partner: How to Use LLMs to Transform Your Notes (3rd of 3 seminars)
May 3, 2024
"You can’t evaluate bias if the AI can’t explain itself."
Daniel J. RosenbergDesigning with and for Artificial Intelligence
August 11, 2022
"Unique names for components like message bars are crucial, especially when multiple instances are shown at once."
Alexis LucioScaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
June 9, 2022
"I took roughly three months to get the first shareable version of the roadmap, including onboarding and interviews."
Peter BoersmaHow to Define and Maintain a DesignOps Roadmap
October 3, 2023
"Critical thinking is our strongest asset, not just automation or AI."
Ben Reason Aline Horta Majid Iqbal Fabiano LeoniMaking the system visible: The fastest path to better decisions
November 20, 2025
"People forget the expertise every seven years and have to learn everything again—this bot helps make that expertise accessible."
Peter Van Dijck Louis RosenfeldCoffee with Lou #4: Taking a Peek Under the Rosenbot's Hood
June 14, 2024
"The UX field's expansion leads to pushback—people ask why researchers talk about areas owned by others like OCM."
Taylor KlassmanShaping the Next Era of UX Research: Collaborative Forum
March 11, 2025
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What is the productivity revolution theory and how does it challenge the traditional approach to scaling UX teams?
What practical framework can be used to assess and address data quality in organizations?
How can visualization techniques be used during workshops to manage complexity without too much polish?