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This is going to sound a bit soapbox I know but, but I think it is important on many levels. I have a nephew in the greater Boston area who recently tried to purchase tickets to the Bruins hockey game. While this should not be a problem, everyone sells online today, in his case it turned into a weeklong event. You see my nephew is disabled and requires special seating. Now you would think that would be easy given this is 2012 and web applications are available for everything, including ticket sales - except in this case. Now, while he was not able to purchase through the web application from the sales agent – which appears to be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding ticket sales which stipulates: “Venues are required to sell tickets for accessible seats in the same manner and under the same conditions as all other ticket sales” – he was directed to a telephone number where no one answered or called back until several attempts were made over a period of several days.

This to me is a prime example of not fully understanding the regulations, not fully identifying all of the requirements or a choice to ignore the requirements. In any case, it is obvious something is not right and places these organizations at risk not to mention creating unhappy customers. I am not sure why but if we can do mash-ups of cities, real estate and many other things, why is not possible to sell these tickets in the same manner as any other seat in the house- which is clearly a regulatory requirement. Show a map of the venue, highlight the accessible seats that are available and let the customer make a choice. When I fly, I get to choose the seat on the plane and the application tells me what is available, why not here? When I buy tickets to an event, I get to choose the seats I want based on the venue map. Why is this not the case here?

In my view, there is no reason that this should be an issue. If there is a regulatory mandate, it must be done. The ideal situation would be to solicit feedback, perhaps using social media, to gain insight as to how this customer base would access the information to make a purchase in addition to meeting the regulatory requirements.

Requirements gathering in every situation should address as many variations as possible and even if you cannot get it all immediately, there must be a plan in place to address those requirements in an efficient manner. If there is a regulatory requirement, you need to identify it, understand it and address it properly or place your organization at risk and potentially in a position where there could be penalties as a result.

If 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. This will also be the focus of my session at the AIIM 2012 Conference in San Francisco.

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 and look forward to meeting you at the following events:

• January 31-February 3, 2012 AIIM ECM Masters in London, UK
• February 5-7, 2012 Capture 2012 in San Antonio, TX
• February 14-17, 2012 AIIM BPM Masters in San Diego, CA
• February 26-28, 2012 Share Conference, Johannesburg, SA
• March 20-23, 2012 AIIM 2012 Conference in San Francisco, CA
• June 13-14, 2012 info360 Conference in New York, NY