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It’s not that I particularly love document imaging, content capture, or even ECM technologies.  The reason I’m so vested in market education is to bring the future closer.  It’s really all about getting to that one point in the future when we stop thinking about the collection of data and content, and start using it.

I would argue that technology has far advanced our ability to use it.  Really ECM technologies are not making phenomenal changes in the areas of capture and storage in recent years.  And it’s safe to call these established technologies.  But the whole reason we do it, is so that we can get better value of that content today, and move that magical point in the future closer. 

At first it was just about getting content into the repository as fast as possible, we quickly realized that this caused more harm than good.  Later it converted to getting it in the repository in the best possible way, this is where we are today.  Today we focus on taking the established ECM technology, and applying it for a sustained amount of time.  However the technology that exists is far beyond this.

If you have a million dollars to burn on technology, you might be where I want the entire market to be.  And that is in the area of data actualization.  Where we spend less time capturing, storing, and searching, and more time consuming content.  The world of “pull”.  If you are in this lucky few that can invest in technologies such as Autonomous Data Mining, then you can officially be called on the bleeding edge.  If you are aware of the technology, but do not yet have the means, you are cutting edge ( that’s me ).  And if you are like the rest of the world who is fumbling to understand what content is, you are behind the times.

This is Why we spend so much time on capture.  So that eventually data is telling us what the value is, versus us trying to derive a mechanism to get at it.  Where we don’t really have to think about document imaging, we just do it.  Where we don’t have to remember the correct “keyword” to search for that pesky document we lost.

The path from here to there is painful.  There will be aftermath of companies that are just too far behind to catch up.  Others slightly ahead, but scared from being dragged behind the cart.  Those companies that are passengers and doing their best with what they have to control content.  And finally those who are drivers, who have money, agile, and keeping on top of all new technologies.  This is the ECM and capture wagon, and we are all someplace on it.

Sometimes it’s good to ask yourself “why” are we doing what we are?  Are we:

1.)    Trying to fix something broken with our content, retroactive

2.)    Trying to get more from what we have today, just active

3.)    Or thinking ahead about how to be as efficient and effective as possible, proactive

I hear the phrase “garbage in, garbage out” too much.  But there is no denying that in order to get to the world of data actualization, we have to master data collection.  In order to spend less time finding content, and more time using it, we have to use the right tools and practices to get content in an actionable format.  This is the world I dream of at night (nerdy). And this is Why I focus on capture and ECM technologies, and Why market education is everyone in the “know” primary responsibility.