TakingAIIM

Content Security - What Will it Take?

In today's headlines it was declared that the theft of millions of customers' credit card numbers from discount retail giant TJX was due to outdated security systems.  The headline resonated with me so loudly, it was almost deafening.  I could not help but think, "DUH."

We are in the final stages of writing our first Market IQ Report, on Content Security.  Two of the more interesting findings in the report echo the headline.  So I figured I would share a glimpse into them, given the relevancy to today's news.  Survey findings seem to suggest that the revelation regarding TJX is not the exception, but the norm.   Despite the availability of a host of technology solutions that keep pace with the technologies that enable content proliferation and creation, security remains the ugly setp child in most organizations.

When asked to identify where they believed content security was in its market adoption cycle, the great majority of respondents indicated "early majority."  The market perception is that most companies have embraced security technologies and have updated their systems. Upon inspection of other survey data, however, we found that most organizations have not made investments in security.  Indeed, individual responses indicated that content security, although recognized, typically is without a project owner, sponsor, clear budget and implementation time line.  Organizations seems to be doing mush talking about security (including compliance and discovery), but are not taking much action.  Reported uptake of technologies is very low, with the only somewhat exception being in traditional tools such as records and document management.  Many organizations will probably find themseleves like TJX, concluding that breaches in content security were caused by "outdated systems". One has to ask, give all the attention on compliance, e-discovery and major security breaches of late, what will it take for organizations to take content security seriously, as a senior management issue, funded, sponsored and adequately addressed and updated.  Does it take "getting caught", like TJX?  One wonders what that company's plans for security are now.

Want to know more?  Stay tuned.  Details regarding the statistics quoted in this blog, and much more are forthcoming in the AIIM Market IQ on Content Security, due for publication to the AIIM site in less than  2 weeks.

ECM: "Everywhere" Content Management

On a recent plane trip I thumbed through the September 15 issue of American Airlines in-flight magazine, AmericanWay.  About half way through this non-IT, general public magazine, I was struck by the presence of ECM throughout it. In this one magazine of 111 pages, 1% was concerned with ECM.  (That may not seem like a high percentage, but this is a airline magazine.  A large percentage is devoted to airline specific features such as AA Editorials, aiport maps, puzzles, in-flight movie and radio listings, food and beverage selections, travel-related advertisements, etc.).  Indeed, the 1% was enough to stand out and grab my attention. 

The majority of the ECM content was in the form of product advertisement - 6 to be exact, including  e-books, scanners, e-filing systems and personalized e-communication devices.  So?  What hit me and drove me to write this posting was the realization that ECM, once delegated to techies focused on  enterprise libraries and filing systems, is now mainstream.  Implementations and development may still be technical in nature, but the application and usage, the fruits of our labors, have permeated throughout society.  ECM, in many permutations is all around us and a part of many daily lives, even if many do not see it specifically that way.  It is associated with revenue generating products.  What is  most exciting about this stage of market adoption is the high growth rate in technology uptake it represents, the wider variety of ECM-related jobs and application areas to work in.  ECMers are no longer IT professionals tasked with managing content, but perhaps publishers who design more effective training manuals, interactive/situational spy novels or marketeers who manipulate content, BI and geo-spatial data to dynamically produce collateral and incentives.   

The realization and excitement that was building in me as I thumbed trough the magazine came to a head on page 52, on which started an article regarding interactive TV news broadcasting.   Apparently, the development and design of interactive television news stations is a burgeoning profession, being introduced for study in several universities.  The article describes a near-future model for the delivery of news in a highly interactive and personalized manner.  The article recalls the "early days"  of on-line news coverage, exemplified by the CNN 24x7 model, complete with non-stop tickers and myriad modules, designed to engage, but ultimately causing information overload and a disenchanted audience. The new delivery model is founded in content delivery tools that seem revolutionary to the news writer, but familiar to the ECM practitioner.  The delivery model is founded in flexibility, re-purposing of content and personalization.   This is the same basic set of tools and models introduced in my posting on content delivery.

We could debate, (I am not going to here), whether the technologies that comprise ECM have all been invented, or if there are more to come.  For argument's sake, lets say the advent of ECM technologies is waning,  Nonetheless, we have only begun to scratch the surface on how ECM technologies can impact  business, educational, commercial and personal communication models. The role of the ECM practitioner is likely to morph with many other professions.  We have not even begun to scratch the surface with regards to the applications of ECM.   The value of ECM tools and expertise is likely to catapult in the next decade.   

ECM Poster Children or Shoeless Cobbler's Kids?

This week ECM flowed into the business mainstream.   EMC made the front page of the Wall Street Journal (article), and several business and technical periodicals covered NASDAQ granting Forrester a stay on the suspension of trading and delisting of the company's common stock. (press release).

The point of this blog post is not to comment on the merits of these legal battles.  No opinion is being presented as to the state of either case, or likely outcomes.  The focus of the post is to simply raise awareness of the fact that two major players (a solution provider and an analyst firm) within the ECM market find themselves in the throes of e-discovery. What I find interesting is the prospect, as these cases unfold, of the market obtaining poster children - best practices of ECM and e-discovery (or will either of these be a case of the cobbler's child walking around shoeless?).  Stay tuned...

AIIM 2.0 - Lets Get Going

In his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida asks a thought provoking question.  I'll paraphrase - If you took a person from 1900 and dropped them into 1950, then took someone form 1950 and dropped him into 2000, who would experience the most marvel, confusion and degree of change?  Florida states that for most of us, the obvious answer is the man from 1900, transported to 1950.  Agree?  Think of the changes is technology.  The 1900 - 1950 time traveler would encounter a dizzying uptake of automobiles, proliferation of telephone, air travel, modern sky-reaching architecture, bridges spanning waterways once only crossable by boat (bridges covered in automobiles),  homes filled with electric appliances to do everything from play stereo music to open cans and keep foods frozen indefinitely.  He would witness advances in medicine that significantly altered life expectancy and the elimination of many diseases.  Although the 1950 - 2000 time traveler would encounter many advances in transportation, architecture and health care, the ability to absorb them and comprehend them would not be as difficult.  Florida proposes that although cars may be easier to drive for longer distances, planes are faster and bigger and home appliances are more slick and efficient the degree of fundamental change would not be as great or difficult to comprehend.  New cars are still driven on basically the same roads. Trains still run on the same tracks. Telephones, though now even more plentiful and operating wirelessly, are in essence still the same appliance providing the same type of connection, and operated in a very similar fashion.  Television, in all its cable-enabled interactive glory is still basically the same form of entertainment (Florida points out that indeed the time traveler could still watch his same favorite TV shows from the 1950s in re-runs.)  Ah but what of the computer?  Florida proposes that even the PC, while an impressive example of progress,  the time traveler from 1950 would not be too hard pressed to learn how to operate it, as it shares the same input (keyboard) device as the typewriter.  He, nor I mean to make light of the power and value of the computer, but to grasp the concept perhaps not as major a leap as seeing a plane for the first time.  So the "winner" is the 1900 - 1950 time traveler.  WRONG - Florida quickly turns the reader's attention back to a different level of change, one far more dramatic in the latter part of the last century.  He proposes the level of social change would spin the head of the 1950 - 2000 time traveler to a dizzying level that far exceeds that caused by technology changes in the first half of the century.  The 1050 - 2000 time traveler may indeed be boggled by work-from home business models, woman and minority executives leading global firms, woman and minorities holding significant political power, smokers banished to parking lots, relaxed dress codes at work and at leisure, an intolerance for ethnic demeaning humor, job-hoppers (as opposed to the life time loyal employee) and a far greater exchange of ideas - individuality over conformity.  A ready mixing of inputs from myriad individuals regardless of geographic location, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and to some degree age.

The agent of change from 1950 - 2000?  Florida proposes many, including increased individual creativity (individualism) and openness in the transfer of ideas - increased communication and collaboration across multiple "barriers".  Herein lies the link to this website.  Florida is, in some part speaking to Enterprise 2.0, the positive side of Enterprise 2.0 (I have earlier blogged on the darker side of Enterprise 2.0).  With the open exchange of experience and ideas, we achieve greater creativity. 

I am particularly excited and focused about this at the moment because I just returned from an AIIM ATM meeting and AIIM Board of Directors meeting.  One of the topics discussed was the approaches that will be used to create more of an open exchange among the AIIM community.  To my delight, the ATMS and board embraced the ideas.  The ECM association will soon be building its knowledge base and creative directions with far greater agility and speed.  Why, because every member will be given a real voice and collectively we should become smarter and more creative.  Collaboration and exchange will not only be supported, but facilitated and encouraged.  Individuals from around the world, across verticals, suppliers of ECM and users of ECM will be open to exchange.  Online communities around verticals, horizontals, products and locality will be born. Market IQ reports will be published as "live documents", organically growing with  individual reactions and related experiences.   Wikipedias will act as knowledge repositories and navigation tools.  In the spirit of Enterprise 2.0, AIIM, the ECM Association will become a highly interactive community of ECM practitioners, thought leaders, solution developers, technicians and business people. 

Yeah, I am pumped with excitement.  The only bad news, in my mind, is that this will take some time, from an infrastructure standpoint to completely deliver on.  But the cultural shift, away from a command and control/push  communication model has been made, and that is a huge first step.

In the interim there are many small next steps in which we can all participate, embryonic though they may be.   This blog and a family of other AIIM blogs are available for ongoing commentary.  I encourage you to post your comments to this posting.  What do you think of AIIM's direction?  What tools, functionality, communities do you want?   Also be aware that AIIM hosts an ECM community in Facebook and an AIIM Linkedin group.  Join, comment - get engaged and be part of the community that ushers in AIIM 2.0.

Content Security - What's Your Opinion?

As I have mentioned in past postings, we in AIIM  Market Intelligence have targeted Content Security as the topic for the inaugural Market IQ report.  Securing content is a paramount issue in this Enterprise 2.0 age. Content Security can be viewed as a means to be compliant, to reduce risk, or as an enabler, i.e. providing a "safe environment" in which collaboration can occur without threat of piracy or leakage.   Security is no longer a simple issue of buying the right firewall, but a business strategy that balances collaboration and risk, and facilitates that strategy with a multi-faceted technology infrastructure.

We want our Market IQ report to be more than just our insights however.  We want your opinions and benefit of your experience in this area.   So I am inviting  you to take  20 - 25 minutes to complete the survey on Content Security at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226UNAW64LA .

Participants will see the fruits of their input in several ways.  I will be blogging about results.  Dan Keldsen will also be blogging on results on his site, and the final report will be made available for download on the AIIM site, on or around 10/5/07.

I hope you find the time to participate in this groundbreaking study.  Thanks.