Blogs

Sanooj Kutty is a staunch promoter of the business-drives-technology-serves-business cycle and was drawn into the world of information management through encountering electronic document and records management. He’s been responsible for imaging, BPM, and ECM projects through his career.

An active member of this community, Sanooj was gracious enough to take the time to share his knowledge in what he’s learned from his time in the information management industry – at least so far. As Sanooj would be the first to tell you, the learning never stops.

Check him out at his blog or on twitter, @sanoojk.

AIIM: What’s the overlap between ECM and BPM and ERM? You’ve had your fingers in all of them at various times in the past few years.

SK: While I do witness technological overlaps with multiple department-based implementations and sometimes even multiple enterprise-based implementations, I see the biggest challenge is lack of clear governance. The absence of clear policies results in organizations not clearly aware of the boundaries in which they must function. This means that when issues pop up, they look for IT solutions and this again leads to selecting software that addresses the symptoms and not the disease. I have seen ECM systems procured and used for BPM and also ERM systems procured and used as a DMS. This is not to say that one-for-all software (or portfolio) are not available, it is just to highlight that customers really don’t know their problems and mostly buy on assumptions. In the Middle East, I see an absence of pure-play consultants in the ECM, BPM, and ERM domains. Usually, they come from vendors and we all know the difference between a salesman and a consultant.

AIIM: What is the hardest part of getting an implementation successfully completed?

SK: Changes! I don’t mean operational changes or functional changes. I mean changing objectives. In fact, I have coined the term “Objective Creeps” to name this. In one of my projects, a BPM initiative started with the objective of transparency, which then slowly crept up to functional automation, manpower reduction, reduce paper, etc. In between all this they forgot their legal and regulatory obligations. At the final lap of the project with hardly any budget left, the process had to be revised to ensure compliance. The end result in this initiative was that more people were employed, more paper was consumed, and more printers procured. You can’t boil the ocean and businesses must understand that from the beginning.

AIIM: Is there ever such a thing as a total success?

SK: No. And if one begins to believe in total success, one stops improving and innovating. I need not say more on the perils of that. Over time, I have come to believe that ECM, BPM, ERM, and similar initiatives can only be a project up to the point of infrastructure implementation. Beyond that it must be absorbed into an organization; much like HR practices are absorbed into business management. In isolation and not intertwined into business culture, business problems remain a pain with a technology focused “solution” as a temporary pain killer.

AIIM: What is the greatest lesson(s) learned from your personal experiences of leading or being involved in implementing ECM technology?

SK: Change is Permanent and Perfection is Paralysis. Both credited to Heraclitus and Sir Winston Churchill. Anyways, implementing the “technology” was never the issue. The issue was in adapting the management practices in daily activities.

AIIM: How much of BPM is “paving the cowpath” versus making sure the cowpath actually leads to the pasture/water/barn (pick your own agricultural reference!)?

SK: It’s a mixed bag. While one has to follow known cowpaths to ensure the present functioning of the organization is consistent and stable, like shepherds, one must also keep in mind that one day the current cow paths will lead to barren land and one must always keep an eye out for either paving new cowpaths or other cowpaths that lead to new pastures. In essence, keep asking, “Who moved my Cheese and what’s the easiest way for me to get to it?”

AIIM: Why do imaging projects look so easy from the outside; yet are so difficult in reality?

SK: While quality and age of the paper are natural challenges in imaging (and vendor demos too often only show good looking scanners smoothly guzzling up pristine paper), the real challenges occur from the way you manage your paper. My personal challenges in the imaging domain have been cases of messy filing practices over years, weak governance, and poor security. Technological challenges came much later and were always resolved. As is the case with any unstructured information management, imaging also faces its biggest challenges in the way we manage and not in the technology. In fact, I believe that current technologies are more than enough for most businesses. What we need is a change is our business management practices of handling paper. We need to understand that what originates as paper today will ultimately end up in a digital form.

AIIM: Is ROI important?

SK: Of course! While business must contribute back to society, let’s face the fact that we are all in it for the business benefits and not charity. How to set your ROI targets and then measure it is a different story altogether and can only be determined case by case.

AIIM: Have you used pilots? Why or why not?

SK: Pilots have been used where feasible. In most cases, I choose to pilot if it’s fundamentally new to the organization and to see how it will be accepted or even its practical possibility. However, in some cases, a pilot was not feasible as it would not be advisable to have different practices for the same purpose. This judgment of whether to Pilot or not must be taken with care.

AIIM: Have any unexpected benefits ever popped up from an implementation?

SK: Yes. And a classic case is when a mailroom records archiving project brought out unexpected operational benefits in saving time. Some of my customers have also been able to reduce their physical storage and yet keep themselves compliant to the paper-dominated regulatory environment in the Middle East.

AIIM: What advice can you provide regarding user training? How do you ease the transition from an old to a new system and overcome/avoid resistance? Especially when it comes to changing the business process cowpath.

SK: Start from the top! In almost all cases, such changes are stuffed down the throats of operational staff and rarely does anyone in management have to swallow anything. In essence, management is making a statement that to the rest of the organization, “We won’t change but you have to.” Obviously, this will be difficult. Management must lead from the front. My recommendation would be to actually start rolling out these changes with management functions and not operational functions.

AIIM: What one piece of advice when it comes to getting ECM working in an organization do you think would be most helpful for everyone to know? Does that advice change for a BPM-focused implementation? Am I playing semantics with this question?

SK: Everyone must know this is a paradigm shift and in an increasingly digital world, these are inevitable. Over time, the way they may appear and behave may change, but, it is inevitable. Recollecting my Dad’s experience of moving from book-keeping to spreadsheets and stories of his colleagues being made redundant because they refused to change resonates in my ears. Be it ECM, ERM, or BPM, this is the one and only advice I have to give. Everything else is just part of this journey of change.

AIIM: On a personal note; why did you make the jump from marketing to Document Management consulting; and now BPM? What drew you to this as a career path?

SK: It was part circumstantial and part intentional and rather than elaborate further, I would welcome you to read my “Winds of Change” post in my blog, The Information Manager. It is auto-biographical in nature and describes my journey.

Just for fun

AIIM: What are your three favorite websites?

SK: www.aiim.org – never fails to educate me.
www.hinduonline.com – keeps me abreast of world and India happenings www.google.com – still my answer to almost everything except God

AIIM: What are the three greatest books ever written—and what’s on your nightstand today?

SK: Lord of the Rings –Continues to amuse me with its rich creativity. Fountainhead – Awoke a sleeping Howard Roarke in me. Life of Pie – The spiritual-biological synergy was a lesson in metaphors and symbolism

On my night stand right now is “The Great Indian Novel” by Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Another inspiration where he brings together Hindu mythology and Indian Politics.

AIIM: What are the three greatest movies of all time—and what’s the last one you’ve seen?

SK: The Usual Suspects – Screenplay brilliance The Godfather – Marlon Brando Seven Samurai – Need I say more when it continues to inspire clones even today.

Actually, quite machismo in my tastes :)

AIIM: What was your first concert—and what are the three greatest songs on your iPod?

SK: Not much of a concert guy but it was the Dubai Desert Rock festival where Megadeth performed and I head banged to Angry Again.I don’t have an iPod, and it’s tough to name 3 greatest songs; but for me, they are

1. Won’t get fooled again – KISS
2. Highway to Hell – AC/DC
3. Angry Again - Megadeth