Why I drifted away and then got pulled back to AIIM? February 7, 2012
Posted by Sanooj Kutty in Business Process Management, Capture, Electronic Records Management, Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Content Management.Tags: aiim, Archiving, document management, ecm, electronic records management, Enterprise Content Management, enterprise information management, information management
8 comments
While the credit to my foray into unstructured information management; namely DMS and ERM must go to my erstwhile mentor, Mr. P Vidyasagar, I would credit my knowledge mostly to AIIM. Ever since I stepped into the world of AIIM, my knowledge in the world of ECM, ERM and BPM have only been on the increase.
However, pretty soon, after the initial thirst, I realized AIIM was more technology-oriented. With me being more into Information MANAGEMENT than information management SYSTEMS, I found myself drifting away from AIIM. If it wasn’t for my continued interactions with Bryant, I may have even left AIIM.
Then suddenly, AIIM announces a survey for a new information management certification and before I could say Rip Van Winkle, they launched the Certified Information Professional program. One glance at it and I was at once, both excited and nervous. This is what I wanted to be, yet, this is where I was not. A mirror that left me glad for reflecting my aspirations while honestly letting me know there was some journey to go.
However, the real importance of this renewed AIIM struck me when I came across Cheryl McKinnon’s blog post, “New Challenges for 2012: Putting People First” and I saw this picture:
And my expectations from AIIM were all satisfied in one look. From the early days, I have tried to stay technology and vendor agnostic right through my career. The flip side of this is that I don’t understand codes any more. I don’t pay attention to Application Servers, Content Servers, Web Servers, etc. SDLC or Scrum doesn’t matter to me. But, when you want to plan, search, capture, store, process, dispose information, my antennae go up.
I am your quintessential information manager, I repeat.
I am not your information management technologist, I emphasize.
So, what I want to offer my customers is this in their information management, exactly what they want:
And what does the AIIM CIP cover:
Yes, there are gaps I need to fill and yes; information management is not a one-man show. However, for now I am confident AIIM and its CIP is a path that can take me where I want to go.
In UAE, We Love Our Paperwork! January 31, 2012
Posted by Sanooj Kutty in Capture, Electronic Records Management, Enterprise Content Management.Tags: dms, document management, ecm, electronic document and records management, Enterprise Content Management, enterprise information management, enterprise records management, erm, sheikh khalifa bin zayed al nahyan, sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum
2 comments
I am someone who rarely bookmarks web pages. However, in September 2011, I could not resist but bookmark a very interesting article. And when it’s titled, “UAE paper use among highest in the world”, how could an aspiring Information Management professional resist.
In football, UAE would have been proud to be on the same status as Italy or Spain. At 200 kg per capita annual consumption of paper, this is not a statistic we should be proud of sharing with them. The significant factor here, though, is that UAE’s consumption is increasing at an average of 5-6% while those of North America and Europe are reducing at 1.8%. We may soon find the world following our paper trails.
The intention of Go Green is very much evident in the visions of the leadership of this country and is reflected in this historical resolution by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and the launch of the ambitious Masdar City by under the leadership of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Yet, when it comes to implementations, most organizations have taken a backward step with layoffs and budget cuts in their ECM programs citing recession as the reason. Businesses are still to realize that paper-related costs are not limited to your A4 bundles but also in storage, safety and logistics and it’s a case of being Penny Wise and Pound Foolish.
As an AIIM Ambassador and its Professional Member since 2009, I am extremely disappointed with myself that UAE’s paper consumption is on the rise, especially since document management technologies have been around for around 2 decades. One look at the comments section of this article highlights that the general public is in a cure mode of recycling rather than the prevention mode of adopting DMS or ECM systems.
It is time for the ECM community in the UAE to come together to promote the business and social advantages. Then again, with direct vendor presence from leading players in the domain like IBM, OpenText, EMC, HP (Autonomy) et al, why do I not find enough education or awareness campaigns in the market?
Perhaps, and this is my speculation, is that this is because the UAE is more represented by License-pushers and pure technocrats. The management of content from a business perspective is a gap found wanting in this market. We need more Enterprise Content Managers and less ECM license salesmen.
Until then, UAE will continue to love its “paper” work.
OpenText buys Global360 – What does it mean for the Middle East? July 15, 2011
Posted by Sanooj Kutty in Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management.Tags: acm, adaptive case management, bpm, collaboration, ecm, Enterprise Content Management, enterprise information management, strategy
3 comments
Nothing!
Being formerly into enterprise sales and currently into professional services and having served on both vendor and client side in the Middle East (more specifically the GCC countries), I have witnessed a clear pattern that validates my analysis that OpenText’s purchase of Global360 means nothing out here.
A typical procurement sequence is as below:
- Release RFP for Software to the BIG vendors.
- Vendors present their organizational muscle and software features
- The techies debate over the technology stack for the specific requirement.
- Hard bargaining on prices unless client management is a “friend”.
- Buy!
While the world is debating over the smartness or stupidity of this recent buyout and its impacts on the industry, out here, it’s not even in the local media!
A recent meeting with a senior IT Management representative of a large corporate disclosed that they chose OpenText over EMC because they felt EMC was more storage-focused than content-focused. I think he hit the nail on the head on that. He also felt IBM was too “we-will-deliver-everything-under-the-sun” oriented. Another fact that is difficult to refute.
OpenText are purely content driven for sure, however, no one here puts a thought into it if the content thinkers of say, IBM, may be better with their strategies than those of OpenText. All this is in addition to the quality of vendor representation in this region.
While features and cost are extremely important when choosing your solution, it is important to also look at the future of the solution in your organization. That does not come from version controls, access control lists and audit trails. They do not come from OCRs and ICRs either. These come from gaining a good understanding of your line of business, internal organizational culture, operational practices and the vision and objectives you have for the future.
One may definitely purchase a Documentum or a LiveLink for a government entity, an automotive dealer or a healthcare provider, but their business strategies, operational practices and their culture would be completely different. Have you ever experienced the same behavior and environment when dealing with a government clerk, a car mechanic and a nurse? Highly unlikely and this is enough to understand that your content behaves like your organization behaves and never like the software system you’ve purchased. Hence, defining your ECM-BPM strategy requires you to understand your enterprise and its philosophy.
Choosing your partner, though, is a different exercise and apart from the traditional software evaluation exercises, it is recommended to evaluate the strategies of the principal vendor and the CSI partner. As an organization, if the vendor’s strategies are focused more on Collaboration and less on Records Management and your strategies are focused vice versa, I don’t think it would be a match made in heaven. Now, let us assume that both the vendor and you have strategies focused on Records Management but your CSI partner have invested their strategies more on Collaboration because they have more customers in Collaboration, you would again find yourself engaged is a rather disappointing threesome.
In essence, any content management procurement must be driven by 5 key factors
- Organizational Culture
- Business Strategy
- IT Strategy
- Vendor Strategy
- CSI Strategy
Only a synergy of the above 5 will lead you to a best fit solution.
The Middle East misses this and until then, who cares if OpenText buys Global360!!!
