There he goes again, jumping back to the sixties. Not really but I may have uncovered the term so many folks look for when trying to articulate the ultimate user experience in finding content and records. The average worker has a task to perform in support of reaching the goals of their organization. Many do not care where information is stored nor do they care where it comes from, they simply want access to the right information at the time it is needed without having to search endlessly and without having to use different software applications to get there. They desire a state of Transcendental Reclamation (TR).
When you break it down, Transcendental Reclamation in relation to content management could be viewed as the “mystical” act of finding and retrieving information or content or even the act of the content finding us. When I need information or content, I am typically looking for something in the context whatever it is I am dealing with presently. If I am on a sales or service call, I might be looking for the client information relevant to the task at hand. If I am building product marketing materials, I may be in search of product specifications. Whatever the case, I want the information or content to appear in front of me regardless of where it resides. It is the ultimate in collaboration and content sharing.
In my view, while we may not have complete TR in our current world, we are certainly moving in a direction to reach that state of nirvana. A place where information and content present itself to me based on criteria and context I have set. Today we can use Agents to monitor the repositories and deliver content to us. We can use wikis and blogs with notifications that changes have occurred or new content is available. ECM environments leveraging a full set of technologies ranging from ECM to BPM and Enterprise 2.0 are bringing us closer to a state of Transcendental Reclamation and knowledge sharing. It is not perfect and certainly is not easy to achieve, but it is a dream that someday will come true.
In order to bring your organization closer to this level, you need to assess what you have, where you want to be and how you wish to operate. You need to prepare your organization and structure information in ways that make it findable to users in terms they are familiar with using. You must prepare the infrastructure technologically, strengthen the business unit functionally through process improvement, and ready your employees emotionally through change management. It is easy to dictate change will happen and push technology out but you will not get the desired results. The organization must be willing to accept change and actively participate in the process. Employees must be open to the future and management must be open to suggestion. It is mutual cooperation that brings about the highest levels of success and emergent innovation. Only then will you be able to see the possibilities of Transcendental Reclamation unfold.
What say you? Have you reached a state of Transcendental Reclamation? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.
Looking to increase your level of knowledge? Join me in Chicago September 22-25 for the BPM Certificate course. I look forward to seeing you there.
Bob Larrivee – AIIM
Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.
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