AIIM Knowledge Center Blog

Industry Perspectives: Nuxeo

 

 Submitted by Bob Larrivee Director/Industry Advisor – AIIM

I had an opportunity recently to discuss our industry with Cheryl McKinnon, Chief Marketing Officer for Nuxeo. Cheryl has more than 16 years experience in Enterprise Content Management and a keen interest in the challenges facing information workers in the increasingly electronic and online work environment with a focus on current and emerging trends in information management, social media for business and the rise of open source. Here are excerpts of our conversation. 

Bob: Please describe your company and role.

Cheryl: I joined Nuxeo as their first Chief Marketing Officer in September 2009. Nuxeo is a Paris headquartered ECM company, in its second full year of North American operations after a decade of success in Europe.  My team and I look after all aspects of global marketing – corporate marketing, field marketing, product marketing and partner marketing. 

Nuxeo uses an open source software development model. We derive our value not from license sales, but from helping clients successfully deploy their content management applications.  Our business model is built around revenue derived from the sales of maintenance and support subscriptions, supplemented by training and professional services.

We are often asked: where can Nuxeo fit in this consolidating and commoditized ECM market? Our response is that we are on the forefront of the next wave of ECM vendors.  Products built in the 1990s are now reaching the natural end of their useful product lifecycle. Our focus is investing in the technical strength of our underlying platform – our Nuxeo Enterprise Platform is built specifically to be extended and embedded in any number of 21^st century content applications.  Content is now created in the world of mobile, social, open and interoperable; it's the world we have been architected to meet.

Bob: What do you think are some of the important issues facing business organizations today? (Technology and/or non-technology)

Cheryl: Businesses are constantly challenged to find balance between opposing forces.  The rapid disconnect between inexpensive or free consumer applications and clunky, complex enterprise applications has forced companies to adapt and welcome some disruption or retrench and become defensive. ECM vendors, unfortunately, have contributed to some of this confusion with the pervasive compliance as a cudgel message over the last few years. Now is the time for a new focus on content management as an enabler of safe collaboration and a platform by which business can become agile in the fast-paced information economy. Where do I see the key debates?

Closed vs. Open

This debate manifests itself in several places. For IT managers it is figuring out how and where open source products can be used to fast-track development projects and reassert more ownership over the technology platforms being used to solve their business problems, and becoming less dependent on closed source vendors who aren't investing in roadmap innovation.  This will be interesting to watch over the next couple of years, as the IT acceptance of open source for infrastructure (operating systems, databases, utilities) moves into the realm of the information worker – enterprise content management, web content management, business intelligence, etc.

It's also the debate that influences much of the Enterprise 2.0 debate.  Closed work processes, barriers between work teams, fear of disclosure to outside parties, lack of trust of information workers – the struggle to encourage information sharing not only across the organization, but into the extended marketplace of partners and customers is still causing angst in many corporations. Finding the right balance between lock down and sharing, distribution of information inside vs. outside the firewall is essential for each organization to figure out – and there is no one correct answer that fits every type of company.

Destroy vs. Preserve

The seek and destroy message inspired by the e-discovery market needs to be balanced with a respect for corporate memory. Of course companies ought to clean house of irrelevant paper and electronic content – get rid of the noise, reduce storage costs, eliminate burden of searching, sort and disclosure when legal issue arises.  But at what point does sensible destruction of obsolete transactional content begin to erase the more substantive content that might have value we don't immediately see today?

This is perhaps more of an issue for public sector, but also for institutions and enterprises who shape our world – what value do we place on the needs of future institutional or corporate historians?  At what point to we risk companies not being able to learn from past mistakes because the record has been wiped clean?  The Records Management profession needs help their enterprises find the right balance between RM as a foundation for corporate memory preservation and RM as merely legal discovery smoking gun eraser.

Cut Costs vs. Invest for the Future

It's easy to slash costs by halting projects that don't contribute to today's bottom line. Over the last two years so many industries have had to make difficult decisions to cut staff and redirect resources to stay in business. Cuts that make sense are those that help flatten decision-making processes and help evolve into a leaner, more efficient business model.  Businesses that successfully navigate the uncertainties of the last two years will be prepared to leave behind outdated assumptions about managing talent in the knowledge economy, will invest in technology to better connect and engage internally and externally, and will seek to be more responsive to their customer or citizen stakeholders. 

Companies that really understand that they're in the knowledge economy will recognize that ECM can be a competitive advantage for them.  Efficient collection, reuse, protection and distribution of their corporate work product will help them stay relevant and responsive. And we've entered an era where cost is no longer an inhibitor. The beauty of open source ECM is that organizations can get their project moving TODAY. There's no barrier to starting, regardless of where the budget approval sits. Zero cost to download and begin testing and prototyping means building a platform for corporate content applications can happen without the sales cycle theater charade imposed by the legacy vendors.

 

Bob: Based on your experience and findings, how do you feel business organizations can prepare?

Cheryl: Organizations can best prepare for any of the challenges described in the previous question by really analyzing where and how content drives their business. Tracing the flow of content through some of the most essential processes – thinking horizontally – can be an illuminating exercise. Mapping out the hand-off points between teams, figuring where defaulting to more open access removes workflow steps, helping demonstrate dependencies across business units – this can form the basis for innovative redesign of internal processes.

Companies that are still stuck in the proverbial content silos are those that tend to be structured vertically – whether because of org chart or technology choices limit content re-use.  If organizations can map out those most essential business processes: procurement, lead generation, product design, customer service, or others inside their specific industry value chain, and understand where content gets created or consumed along the way, it becomes easier to envision applications to support the business. Content needs to be viewed across its natural business lifecycle – not just its disposition lifecycle once it loses its relevance.

 

Bob: What future role do you see for education for vendors, systems integrators and users?

Cheryl: ECM education can be most valuable when it helps connect the technical, business and governance interests that often are cohesive inside an organization. We've been talking about the importance of cross-functional planning teams for years, but I think the time is right to keep accelerating this message.  More and more business users are tech-savvy: the rise of the web for personal and consumer use, of social networks and low cost laptops and smart phones means people are far more open to engaging with technology when the purpose is clear.  Designing and deploying clear, meaningful applications with well-articulated purpose – ie, 'why' content needs to be managed to meet the needs of the business – will lead to success. 

This approach also directly supports the need to look at content horizontally – from its creation/capture, through revision and collaboration cycles, to publication through multiple channels, to sensible retention, preservation or disposal phases. Thinking of the technical, business and legal/governance issues as three layers across a horizontal process rather than three separate spheres is where education can help shape better ECM success.

I've always believed that education is the primary purpose of marketing. Helping organizations think about their content management challenges and making them aware of possibilities to improve their business. 

 

One of the areas of ECM education I intend to develop over 2010 is to be vocal about the fact that some of the assumptions we adopted in the 1990s that are no longer relevant.  ECM needs to be for everyone. The 2006 Federal Rules of Civil procedure affirmed this: it no longer matters whether a company is big, small, private or publicly traded. Everyone has the challenge of electronically stored information that might be subject to legal disclosure one day.

Thus, ECM has necessarily become a commoditized technology space – Microsoft Sharepoint has done wonderful things by getting basic content management features and concepts into the hands of mainstream business users. And the new generation of open, interoperable, flexible ECM platforms, such as Nuxeo, will expand to fill the gaps for more complex or unique content management applications far more rapidly than the rigid, closed, heavy footprint architectures of last-century products.

 

Bob: Do you have any other insights for our readers?

Cheryl: I can't remember the last time the ECM world has been so full of excitement and potential. This is a fascinating place to be, and career opportunities for IT or business professionals who want to invest in this space I believe will abound. This is a great time for AIIM's education program to help drive ECM into its next phase.

I'd like to see open source ECM drive entirely new sources of demand for content management professionals.  Working with organizations that previously didn't deploy because of the very high up-front costs, or with organizations that want to have more control over their application building and customizations, with domain experts who want to design entirely new vertical applications for specific industry use cases, and with companies that are already technically savvy and don't want to sit idly, waiting for vendors to get around to their enhancement requests... this is the new world of opportunity that now opened up.

Thank you for sharing your views with me and our audience. I wish you and Nuxeo all the best and will be watching and listening as you progress.

Current Contact Information for Cheryl McKinnon – Chief Marketing Officer, Nuxeo

Email:              cmckinnon@nuxeo.com

Blogs:              http://blogs.nuxeo.com/cmckinnon/   http://candyandaspirin.blogspot.com

Linked In:         http://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmckinnon

Twitter:                        @CherylMcKinnon

Skype               CherylLMcKinnon

SlideShare       http://www.slideshare.net/CherylMcKinnon

 

 

Bob Larrivee - AIIM

Email: Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org 

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee

Finding Commonality

This week I have the good fortune to be in Utrecth, Netherlands discussing ECM with a very interesting group of individuals who come from several European countries. One of the topics that we discussed to some length is the concept of consensus when it comes to terms or metadata to be used in an organization. The challenge is not only one of language but also one of reference. When I used the word tank as an example, some identified this with the military, others with fuel tanks for a car, and still others in terms of pets as in fish tanks.

In ECM along with ERM and other environments where tighter governance, consistency  and standardization are the goal, we must address the challenges of terminology and definition across the organization.

 

How have you addresses this challenge? I would like to hear from you.

Have you visited www.aiimcommunities.com you should.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

blarrivee@aiim.org

Twitter: BobLarrivee

Do I know you?

 

 Submitted by Bob Larrivee - Director/Industry Advisor

Do I know you? This question we are sometimes asked when we are approached by someone who thinks we look like someone they know or that we ask when someone approaches us and we are not sure of who they are. (Well, note that I said sometimes, as we are not always willing to admit we do not recognize the person.)

It is also a question asked in ECM implementations where we incorporate recognition software into our solution. We of course do not ask the question but rather the recognition software does and poses its question to a reference database to see if there is a match. I know, I am simplifying this process but in essence, this is what happens. When we use recognition software the software makes a determination as to what is there and then takes action according to how we want to use the results which in many cases, is to use it as metadata for populating index fields of a database. When there is a questionable character, it is presented to a human for clarification and the resulting answer is then stored and used as reference in future recognition activities.

Today we are also seeing recognition technology used for facial recognition, voice, and now even objects. Imagine a world where you can aim a camera at something like a leaf for example, and the software recognizes this leaf based on its characteristics then provides you with the cataloged results so you now know that the plant is mint or sage. The concept is now becoming real and shown in a montage video by Microsoft Office Labs. Imagine the possibilities of capturing anything at all, having it recognized and cataloged automatically and stored properly for retrieval at a later time.

In my view, this is a wonderful thing and I hope it comes to fruition quickly as it will be a great tool for business and for learning. Imagine taking your children or grandchildren for a hike through the woods and using this technology to teach them about nature, they can use their camera to record what they have seen and at the same time, have the software inform them of what they are looking at. Of course I hope it is also quick enough to let them know they are looking at Poison Ivy and should not touch it.

What say you? Are you using recognition software beyond text conversion? What are your thoughts on this topic?

Have you checked out the newest AIIM resource available to you? AIIM Communities is a new source of information and discussion center where industry experts are sharing their points of view though blog posts within the various practices of the AIIM Communities. I invite and encourage you to visit and experience this new venue for yourself.

Email: Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org 

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee

 

A Balancing Act

Submitted by Alex Visser, Industry Advisor AIIM

 

 

Dear reader, this week I was reading a follow-up on a topic that is of great interest to me. Basically it is the need to have a good ECM system in place. For those of you who can read Dutch, here are the 2 links that piqued my interest. article 1 and article 2.

So for those who cannot read Dutch what are these articles about? They are about an ongoing battle in a way between people who want to have access to information under what in most English language countries is known as the Freedom of Information Act or some version of that. The situation is such that many local governments find it difficult to comply with these requests and try to get around them.

How have they gotten around them so far? Well in many different ways from trying to just ignore them, say its impossible and asking money for it. Some have even asked rather large amounts of money for the same request when received from different parties. You would expect that they have the information lying around after the first search, but apparently not.

The problem for the local governments is that the Dutch has now rules in several cases already that they cannot charge these amounts of money for information that should and is publically available. The reason why it is so hard to find the right information of course has to do with information/content management or the incompleteness of the currently used systems. Off course it makes sense that the local governments want to not lose money on these request unfortunately the lack of structured management of the information is what is creating the problem for them. If there had been content and record management principles and/or systems in place it would have been a lot easier to comply with the requests.

The courtroom has drawn the same conclusions and does not allow them to charge money for them. For all of you vendors and consultants out there this is good news off course. Since these local governments will be “forced” into introducing ECM principles and systems now in order to prevent more expenditure down the road.

But this story in way goes beyond just local governments. These are organisations that get into the press easily because of their role in society, but how is your organisation doing? Can you find the information quickly without too much cost in time and money? If you are one of the majorities in this world, you will feel that information is important for your work and your company, but will also feel that is not managed properly. So in all honesty we are not that different from local governments except for the fact that we do not get in the papers as easily.

That still does not mean we can continue managing information the way we have been for the last decade or so. We can learn as much from these local governments as they can.

Of course you could also attend one of our training courses to learn more about ECM and meet either my Colleagues’ or me. The AIIM website will tell you all about it and the different locations.

Alex Visser – AIIM   alex.visser@aiim.eu

Follow me on Twitter @AlexVisser

Are you a Thought Leader?

 

Submitted by Bob Larrivee, Director/Industry Advisor

 The term itself implies one must have thought before one can become a “Thought Leader” and since we all have thoughts, we must now explore the term in whole. In researching the term, I found reference that the term thought leader was first used in the mid-1990s by Joel Kurtzman, Editor-in-Chief of Strategy and Business magazine which was a Booz, Allen, Hamilton publication. Kurtzman used this term to designate or differentiate those who he interviewed who had business ideas he felt were worthy of attention and subjects of interest for his readers. Since then, the term has been used to describe individuals or organizations that have been able to enhance current practices with new or innovative changes.

 

Taking this into consideration, we can now look at our organizations and ourselves to assess at a high level, do our ideas merit attention this type of attention? Do they have business value such that it would or could have a positive impact on our business and perhaps the business of others? For example, if you consider the basic elements of Enterprise 2.0 where shared information and knowledge exchange might be the focus, how would or could you modify the way an organization collaborates internally and perhaps externally to develop new products, services, revenue streams or improve operating efficiencies? The use of wikis for sharing ideas and blogs as a means to communicate along with shared workspaces that offer document control features. The point is to take a step back, look at the variables available to you, then explore the options.

 

In my view, we are all thought leaders to a certain degree. What differentiates us is recognition as one who is able to provide value. It is one thing to say we can do this better and another to say here are some options to make it better. Look at your environment and think about where there is room for improvement and how to make those improvements. Develop suggestions on steps to explore and the potential benefit each would deliver. If you run into an area where your expertise is limited, seek the advice of others or get additional training in those areas and increase your knowledge level. We all have thoughts and ideas. As a simple exercise, think about how and where you could leverage wikis and blogs for the benefit of the organization. Start in your own department and develop a plan on how it would work and the benefit it would bring. I also encourage you to look at something being presented and try to think of it in a different perspective. If the company is spending money on a document management solution for control and risk management, how will it also benefit the business from an efficiency and perhaps revenue generating perspective? Who knows, you could be seen as the newest Thought Leader in your company or industry.

 

 What say you? What are your thoughts on this topic and how are you managing your emails?

 

Email: Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org 

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee