The term has apparently been sponsored by Accenture: Enterprise information management is the superset that refers to the people, processes and technology dedicated to gathering, managing, disseminating, leveraging and disposing of all information assets used by an organization.

Often referred to simply as information management, the term often refers to treating information as a corporate asset to be valued and managed as any other investment. Information management encompasses all forms of structured and unstructured information: databases, records, email, documents, Web content, etc. that arises for use from inside or outside the four walls of the organization.

Because of the vast amounts and different types of content used by information workers, and the difficulties of discovering, using and merging information, information management is essential to managing operations, growth, productivity, efficiency and cost.