Imagine an information management environment where all you have to do is turn on technology and it maintains your information perfectly, flawlessly and forever. No more worrying about a taxonomy or metadata. No more worrying about mistakes caused by human error. No more worrying if all of the correct information requested is found in times of audit or litigation. What an amazing world this would be if information management nirvana could be achieved completely through our reliance upon technology. But guess what, we are not there yet.
I recently attended a session where this concept was presented but not in a conceptual light, it was implied that this is being done today by many companies using content analytics and the ability for the software to make determinations as to what should be kept and how it should be managed. When the question was asked how the rules or criteria are established initially, I felt like I was watching a politician dance around the topic using anecdotes to tell a story of how not to do it yet never explaining what it takes to reach this level.
The fact remains that the technology does not inherently understand the regulatory and compliance aspects of the business. The technology does not inherently know the guidelines of the organization in relation to when an information asset meets the criteria of becoming a “record” and when it is content with a business value. The technology does not inherently know when an information asset no longer has value. Therefore, full reliance on technology is still for the most part, a myth.
In my view, we should look to technology as a tool to enhance our operations, maximize efficiency, reduce risk and all of those buzz terms we hear time after time and year after year. The one thing that must also be included is the reality check that someone, somewhere has to provide the parameters and framework from which all of these thing emerge. Technology alone is not the answer it is but a tool we can leverage in our never ending quest to harness, control and share information.
If as an organization, you are ready to move forward and are finding yourself stuck or unfocused and are not sure where to begin or what to do next, seek professional assistance and/or training to get you started.
What say you? Do you have a story to tell? What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you have a topic of interest you would like discussed in this forum? Let me know.
Bob Larrivee, Director and Industry Advisor – AIIM
Email me: blarrivee@aiim.org
Follow me on Twitter – BobLarrivee
www.aiim.org/training
I will be speaking at the following events:
Sbcon11 Virtual Conference on September 8, 2011
ARMA’11 in Washington, DC – October 17-19, 2011
#BPM #SharePoint #documentmanagement #ERM #ContentManagement #AIIM #Recognition #OCR #ElectronicRecordsManagement #healthcare #ECM #benefits #ScanningandCapture