AIIM Knowledge Center Blog

How will you survive in 2011?

Oscar Berg from the The Content Economy blog made me aware that IDC has released an updated version of last year's The Expanding Digital Universe report. The 2008 update finds that IDC’s 2007 estimate of the world's information content was too small. It turns out the 2007 digital universe was actually 281 billion gigabytes, about 10 percent bigger than IDC thought.

By 2011, IDC says in its new report, the digital universe will grow to 10 times its 2006 size. Their track record so far means that this estimate will prove an underestimation as well.

Imagine how this growth will be for your organization if you do not change the way you manage your electronic information…

• Will you and your organization be able to handle 10 times more emails per day?
• Will 10 times larger repositories without proper metadata and taxonomy negatively influence your efficiency and collaboration?
• Will 10 times larger repositories without proper metadata and taxonomy make your organization even more vulnerable for lawsuits and e-discovery?
• Do your executives actually think that full text search will solve all this for them…?

Remember that ERM can be seen as the “art of throwing stuff away” since all business and legal information are retained according to defined retention schedules.

By Atle Skjekkeland.

The Next Big Thing; Corporate Social Responsibility?

Wikipedia defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large. Gartner predicts that by 2009, corporate social responsibility will be a higher board- and executive-level priority than regulatory compliance.

John Mancini and I are both convinced that our industry has a role to play on this issue, if for no other reason than the impact of paper reduction. In the US, 4.7 million tons, or 937 billion sheets, of copy paper were produced in 2001 -- nearly 30% more than in 1995. The associated costs of paper have been estimated to be as much as 31 times the purchasing cost. Also in the U.S., an estimated 90% of copy paper is “virgin” meaning that it does not contain any portion of recycled fiber. We all need to do what we can to reduce this!

By Atle Skjekkeland.

Going Dutch

Open Source and Open Standards

Following on from the post by my colleague Atle Skjekkeland from his home country Norway, I remember seeing a similar story from the Dutch Government a few weeks ago.

The Dutch Government has set a soft deadline for the use of open source applications from the 2nd of April 2008 onwards. The rules have changed to Open Source software, like Open Office and Mozilla Firefox, being the norm and all proprietary software needing justification.

Currently already 7% of all Dutch city councils are using using Open Office or are in the process of switching over.

This is not just a passive endorsement or a suggestion, but the government will put money into the effort, as well as monitor and support those that want to make the switch. In the first year 2.35 million Euros (about 3,6 million US$) will be available and a special agency will be set up to help local and national government organizations to migrate. Money is assigned for the areas of Advise and Stimulation, Pilot projects, Knowledge Transfer/Training, including legal advice and cost for running the support agency as well. The same amounts have been assigned for the following 3 years.

From January 2009 onwards, all ministries must have a switch-over strategy. The full justification can be accessed here . Saving are expected to be in the region of 850,000 US$ per year as well as considerable improvements in the ability of the various agencies to exchange information and documents.

Although this initiative currently only covers the desktop application, there are isolated moves to also see whether this can be  extended to the Operating System. The city of Amsterdam for example is running Linux in the local housing agency as a Pilot Project.

by Hanns Köhler-Krüner

Just another New Year? I don't think so!

First let me wish all of you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2008

2007 brought us some very interesting changes and pressure for how we conduct business. We saw the impact of the Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and how they may also bring our personal information systems into litigation. This in itself warrants a closer look at how our businesses operate and the governance or need for governance over our information and process management practices.

2008 should be no less exciting with new enhancements coming and the major players like Microsoft and yes, even Google, making strides toward providing higher levels of content, records and process management capabilities in their products. We will continue to see activity in the compression of the industry like that of IBM's acquisition of FileNet but we will likely see a series of new companies emerge as a result. These companies could enter the scene with a tighter focus on vertical application rather than broad brush or horizontal use. In particular, these companies are likely to target the Small to Medium Business (SMB) space as segment specialists.

Let us not forget technology advancement itself. Consumer demand is reaching a new level for automated solutions in storage, capture and classification. This is especially true in relation to managing email. The driver for this being a need for tighter compliance with Government and industry regulatory requirements and discovery.

2007 saw a global surge in the need for training in every aspect of information management. 2008 will find this need for education growing at exponential rates. AIIM stands ready with over 5,000 students successfully completing our focused courses to date and classes are already filling for the 2008 calendar.

2008 brings with it new challenges in information management. AIIM is the best place to begin preparing. Check out the education section of our site today and take your first steps to a successful year. http://www.aiim.org/education/certificate.asp

Bob Larrivee - AIIM

Improving Insurance Service

The insurance industry is a rapidly changing market facing restructuring, the need for additional offerings and an increased commitment to customer service. This is true not just at the corporate level where they have been dealing with this for some time, but increasingly at the agency level. The challenge presented at all levels of the insurance industry is how to manage customer information in a way that will increase operating efficiencies, lower operating costs and allow Customer Service Representatives to communicate with their customers in a amore timely and accurate manner.

Those in the insurance sector seeking to leverage technology to enhance their operations will find the ability to implement more efficient business processes, increase employee productivity, lower operating costs and increase customer satisfaction is available today. At the agency level, existing agency CRM applications can be enhanced to leverage the power of a of strong information management practices, minimizing the need for paper files and enabling the storage of electronic files in a standard and consistent manner.

In this way, they strengthen their market and leadership position within the industry and communities they serve. Customer service and satisfaction will rise as a result of information being available on-line and accessible at the desktop rather than the Customer Service Representatives having to place the client on hold while they manually search through file cabinets in hopes that the information being sought is where it should be at the time it is needed.

How is your agency preparing for change?

Bob Larrivee -- AIIM

It's All About Preservation

Since the beginning of time, humankind has attempted to preserve and share information. From the early cave drawings to electronically created information of today, the challenge and desire is to preserve the knowledge we have gained through experience and share it with others so that they may learn from us and improve.

In the world of content management, conceptually, there is no difference other than applying structure to the process. We now decide what we will save, how it will be saved, how long we need to keep it and who can access it. Preservation of information is vital to our existence and to our businesses for growth and improvement. The fact that we now add structure through classification and consistent taxonomic assignment across the enterprise allows us to find this information and share this knowledge in a more expedient manner.

ECM allows us to provide the right information to the right people when they need it and prohibit access by those who are not authorized to see it. It allows us to preserve information of all types and with proper techniques and practices, make it available for many years ahead for use by future generations. What we have to do is look at all of the options available to us in establishing consistent practices to evolve our information retention formats and technology for this purpose. It is no small task but if we look at emerging standards like PDF/A as an example, we have a good chance to accomplish this daunting task.

It is all about preservation. Preservation of information that will be useful in the future. Preservation of information that enables knowledge transfer among the human resources within our businesses. Preservation that is consistent in nature and compliant with the stringent regulations imposed by government, industry and corporate governance.

The question you must now ask is whether you have a preservation strategy in place and if you do, is it enough?

Bob Larrivee - AIIM

ERM is for Everyone: No Exceptions

On Monday, it was reported that U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy directed the Executive Office of the President to safeguard and preserve all emails. This was in response to two lawsuits seeking to determine whether the White House has destroyed e-mails in violation of the federal law known as the Federal Records Act, which details strict standards and guidelines for the destruction of Government documents.

In this instance, the question of compliance or non-compliance is now the discussion and as shown here, there are no exceptions. We must all ensure that records are maintained and managed in accordance with the governance and guidelines of the Federal, State and Local government as well as industry specific requirements. As such, we must put into place a solid combination of technology and process practices that provide the best possible level of meeting those regulatory compliance demands.

The first step for you is to understand the options and best practices that are in use. The best place for that is right here at AIIM.

Bob Larrivee - AIIM

East meets West for ERM

Dateline Hong Kong: Students from WinTec Training of Hong Kong this week, successfully
participated in the AIIM ERM Practitioner and ERM Masters programs.

This is the first time these programs have been delivered in this region and student
response was extremely positive, signaling the strong beginning for future offerings
of this type.

While this is not the first time WinTech Training brings AIIM Education to
the region, the ECM program being first, the combined success of each indicates that the
demand for knowledge in this area is rapidly increasing and the acceptance of WinTec Training
and the AIIM Education programs is regarded as a standard.

Thank you to all who participated in the program and to Mr. Stephen Lui, Director of WinTec Training
for bringing these and future AIIM Educational offerings to Hong Kong. We look forward to the
future and working with Stephen and WinTec Training to provide additional AIIM Education
programs to Hong Kong.

Bob Larrivee -- AIIM

AIIM Future Trends Forecast

Our EmTag (Emerging Technology Advisory Group) predicts the most significant industry trends during the next eighteen months.

• More focus on Searching, Navigation, and Auto-Categorization
• Voicemail will be recognized as records from VoIP and unified communications
• A groundswell adoption of Enterprise 2.0 over the next 2-3 years
• The emerging technology of desktop containers
• Virtualization of ECM with SOA services and standard APIs, such as JSR-170
• Content security
• Auditability of content due to pending federal legislation in the US
• Enterprise Records Management
• BI and ECM
• Litigation and Compliance as an “enterprise” driver
• The redefinition of SOA to embrace ECM, BPM, Portals, and Web 2.0
• Automated translation and/or transcription
• The digital home
• Individual lines-of-business within companies are unwilling to wait for an enterprise DM solution

The latest AIIM E-DOC Magazine has an article that addresses this in more detail.

By Atle Skjekkeland.

BPM Goes to Washington

October 5, 2008 - Washington, DC

Students from around the country, representing various business sectors, converged on Washington this week with the desire to learn. What they sought was to increase their knowledge and awareness of BPM (Business Process Management) and the relevance of BPM in business. More explicitly, how they can apply these practices and methodologies to their own businesses and organizations.

They came. They sought. They found. They attended the new AIIM BPM Master course. Here they learned about the strategies, concepts, implementation and best practices of BPM. Here they acquired the tools to help them move forward with their own projects with confidence.

Isn't it time you joined the force and movement in BPM?

Bob Larrivee - AIIM