TakingAIIM

East Meets West - Enterprise Report Management

In the world of ECM, focus is predominately on the unstructured side of the world - documents, web content and the like.  Enterprise reports are a curious form of content, while presented in unstructured or semi-structured formats, the majority of content is often rooted in structured databases.  I am speaking of reports and forms such as invoices, financial reports, inventories, packing slips and spreadsheets.  Enterprise reports bring challenges associated with both the data management and content management.  There is also the potential for these sources of content to slip through the cracks between data and content management.

In an effort to better understand the state-of-the-industry concerning Enterprise Report Management, I am conducting a short (very short - 16 question) survey, and invite you to please take it. 

You can access the survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2279E83X6DY

I will share the results of the survey with you as a thank you for taking the time to complete it.   I hope you will find the 15 minutes needed to complete the survey during this busy time of year.

It may sound trite, but you time and opinion are greatly appreciated.

Targeting ECM On Ramps & BPM, Yeah I Guess We Should

Its that time of the year when we, AIIM Market Intelligence, finalize our editorial calendar for 2008.  Key among this is selection of topics for the Market IQs.  We have targeted Enterprise 2.0, Findability, BPM - Process Efficiency and Outsourcing, and On Ramps and Off Ramps to ECM (i.e. authoring, capturing, and distribution).  Today, we began to double-guess ourselves, especially concerning BPM - Process Efficiency & Outsourcing, and On Ramps and Off Ramps (capture authoring/distribution). Have these topics been covered enough already?  Has enough changed in related technologies and best practices to warrant another look?  Is there still a need to enlighten users?

Once again serendipity came to the rescue and provided the answer.  Both Dan Keldsen and I were also under deadline today to provide  speaker verification and AV requirements for a trade show (that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent - but it should be noted that the show is highly ECM-focused) we are both speaking at next year.

The degree to which the process and the document creation/capture were flawed was unbelievable.  First, we noticed that they required us to print out the form and sign it and then fax it back.  A simple speaker verification form - and yet there was still a reluctance for anything other than ink-on-paper signature to show agreement, and of course, not an original signature, because we were instructed to fax the form back. (BTW, has anyone seen my fax machine? I seem to have misplaced it 5 years ago.)

But OK, maybe there is some good reason why they need a signature in this format.  The confirmation form required that I complete my name, address, etc..  No problem, except for the fact that they already had all this information - when I submitted my proposal - electronically.  Heck, all the required information was in the e-mail message used to transmit the form to me.  Yet, I was asked to handwrite it onto this form. (Do any of you see the lunacy and gross inefficiency of this?  I can only imagine the end result - someone keying this information again.)  Couldn't these forms have been dynamically personalized for me?

It gets worse.  I had to fill out 2 more sheets - 1 for each presentation I am making.  Yup, I had to supply name, company name, etc. - yet again, along with the title of my presentation, date and time (which THEY ASSIGNED TO ME), and again, all of this information was in the e-mail message used to transmit the form to me. Couldn't these forms have been automatically personalized for me?  Couldn't the process have been more automated?

Forget the personal inconvenience to me.  Think of the increased time spent re-keying (forget trying to OCR my handwriting) all of this data. Think of the multiple points of potential error.  OK - now think of the inconvenience to me - not as a speaker - but as a customer.  Is this scenario much different from situations we find ourselves in when completing medical claims, accident reports, mortgage applications ...

If a tradeshow company that prides itself on being technology savvy can continue to "function" this way, chances are there is still a need for Market Intelligence on the state-of-the-industry with regards to On Ramps and Off Ramps, and BPM - Process Efficiency.  So, the topics remain on our editorial calendar for the coming year.  We promise to address the issues raised in this ranting, and go far beyond, to some very cutting edge techniques and best practices.

Stay tuned ... (and thanks for letting me get that off my chest.)

Face It Facebook - Web 2.0 is Not Completely Open

Those of you who follow this blog know that I am an advocate of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0, but an equal zealot of Content Security.  Indeed, it is no coincidence that the first two AIIM Market IQs focus on Content Security (released - available for download), and Enterprise 2.0 (in progress and slated for Q1 2008 availability.

New, more flexible and far reaching approaches to social computing and networking are very powerful, but all too often, proposers of such functionality feel that such forums need to be self-policing - free and open.  Yeah - no.  Earlier posts have made this case.  Today, one of the poster children for Web 2.0 and social computing, Facebook, made my case once again.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly backed down on Facebook's Beacon advertisements and announced new modifications, aimed at better security and filters (see article). In my opinion, Zuckerberg is lucky that so far no one has sought legal action against him and his company.  Zuckerberg is learning the hard way that even Web 2.0-inclined users still believe that some of their personal content is just that "personal".  Things we may share with our "real friends", may not be things we want to publicly share with our several hundred "Facebook friends". 

This event is an especially powerful commentary on the need to "manage" social networking.  Facebook is often pointed to as a quintessential example of the power of social computing, popular with  "generation millenials", representing the new attitude to networking and "making friends."   When these millenials were personally exposed to the risks involved with unbridled access and sharing of their web experiences, they quickly cried foul, and demanded the protection that generations before them fought for - right to privacy.

In his post, Zuckerberg stated "We missed the right balance,".  Oh yes indeed, and that is the balance between collaboration/innovation and protection/compliance that is the focus of the AIIM Market IQ on Content Security.  Zuckerberg also apologized for the PR fiasco that followed, "It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share," he wrote. "Instead of acting quickly, we took too long to decide on the right solution."  Success in business today, more than ever, is founded in agility.  This Web 2.0 company has many a enterprise 1.0 lessons to learn.  (Interesting to note that the Market IQ slated for Q3 2008 is on process management and agility.)

It is also interesting to note that this current mistake made by Facebook is more complex than other  privacy mistakes made by Facebook because it involved business partners (i.e  advertisers).  A number of Beacon participants are now also crying foul - stating that they will either temporarily or permanently pull out of the program.   This level of complexity is just the tip of the iceberg regarding multi-client/partner relationships and collaborative processes. 

The moral here, and one that is likely to be echoed in our upcoming Market IQ on Enterprise 2.0, the functionality available through Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 represents great opportunity, but tread cautiously and intelligently.   Do not abandon "older" best practices and common sense when embracing new models.  Deploying Facebook-like functionality inside the firewall (Enterprise 2.0) requires careful deployment and strategy, that includes good old fashioned management and security.  Enterprises who have contemplated bringing Facebook inside the firewall may want to rethink that approach.  This is not the first time Facebook has gotten access/security wrong.  This popular millenial social tool may not be ready for business prime time.