Here we are in July of 2014 and after spending some time on the road, I realize that while technology has moved forward, the fundamental issues voiced by businesses today, reflect the same issues we heard decades ago. Technology use and the application of technology to automate metadata application, proposal generation and other processes within a business are a focus but realigning the user community to the new ways of working – change management, governance, and yes, even structure for information is still a challenge. Most importantly, these questions are coming more frequently from the IT segment, where they are tasked with and accountable for better management of the infrastructure and aligning it to the business.
In My View
As I have said in the past, technology alone is not always the best or complete solution. The evidence is clear to me that in today’s world, the fundamental issues in business remain the same. Information organization, consistency, findability, defensibility, and change management are still a challenge that technology alone has not been able to fully address.
Beginning Today
Look at the business issues in your organization and peel back the symptom statements to reveal the underlying problem. If the problem statement is that it takes too long to process claims or sales orders, look for the real cause. Perhaps there is a set of information related to this process that must be complete before the process can move forward. Identify what a complete set is made up of and look for reasons why it is delayed in coming together. If the problem is that the information is both in digital and paper form, look for ways to bring the information into the process at the first touch point so the complete package is compiled sooner. Scan upon receipt rather than further into the process where is can be delayed, misplaced, or even lost.
Involve the users in the process and solicit their feedback on both the problem and their suggestions on how to address it. This not only provides firsthand insight, it also aids in change management by making them part of the solution as opposed to the recipient of yet another operational mandate. The technology is there and ready, but is your organization ready for the technology?
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. If you are looking for some great research information from our industry, feel free to visit our research site and download some of our Industry Watch Reports today at www.aiim.org/research
Bob Larrivee, Director of Custom Research – AIIM
Email me: blarrivee@aiim.org
Follow me on Twitter – BobLarrivee
www.aiim.org/training
I will be speaking at the following events:
• #NIRMA2014, August 10-13, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV
#EnterpriseContentManagement #BusinessProcessManagement #InformationGovernance