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
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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.
Rebooting the Human Mindset – The Invisible Challenge July 12, 2011
Posted by Sanooj Kutty in Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management, Others.Tags: bpm, Business Process Management, change management, dms, document management, ecm, electronic document and records management, electronic records management, enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Content Management, enterprise information management, erm, facebook, google plus, google+, social bpm, social networking
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Google + brings about a renewed wave of energy in the Social Networking scene. 30% of my Twitter (another Social Networking phenomenon) now buzzes with Google + and related hash tags. With Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook himself checking it out, how could I be left behind?
Dan O’Leary was kind enough to invite me and as I joined in, my initial excitement was vanquished by my inability to adapt to Google + easily. Perhaps, the lingering experience of Facebook was prompting me to find a Facebook in Google +. I created my account, click a couple of circles and I was out of there. It took me a lot of intention to come back 2 days later! And when I returned I had to reboot my mindset to explore and adopt Google +, a task not as easy as our favorite 3-finger salute; CTRL+ALT+DEL.
It’s been 4 days now and Google + has not connected me to anyone new; instead it’s synergized a selection of my Facebook contacts and Twitter followers into one. Only time will tell whether I enjoy this cohesion or not.
As an ECM-BPM cohesion advocate, this small experience was a reflection of the invisible challenge I have faced on a daily basis during the course of my humble career. As a non-technical resource in the information management world, it’s a difficult journey to meet the expectations of the business without upsetting the ability of the techies to deliver with the tools at their disposal.
Be it a Document Management System or a Records Management System or a Collaboration System or the conventional BPM or Social BPM or Adaptive Case Management or Dynamic Case Management, they are all a change to the business user from their interactions and experiences with their current systems and processes.
In spite of all these innovative solutions, why do we still see the email as the most prominent unstructured information communication and collaboration medium? It’s simple; the email did not change the behavior of communication; it merely changed the medium of communication. The snail mail approach was merely adapted to a digital medium. 
The new solutions require the human to UNLEARN while emails kept it down to an acceptable minimum.
However, the completely anarchic nature of the E-mail began to pose other challenges to an enterprise in terms of security, storage and retrieval. The processes that were probably better controlled albeit at a much slower pace through a paper trail was now run through the chaotic freedom of emails.
Naturally, the world began to search for alternatives to control their content and processes resulting in a whole new gamut of information management solutions. However, the innovators in their excitement to lead the brat pack forgot that the human mind is not as excited to adopt changes as they desire to. A slow and steady release would have allowed the Average Joe to visualize, experiment, experience and then execute these solutions.
Today, within 4 days, as I start to crib about the unavailability of Google + on Blackberry, I must also be honest that I may not have appreciated too much features from Google + in one go. Just as I started on Facebook when it was not as feature rich as it is now, I had a natural growth into it.
As an ECM-BPM consultant, I take great efforts to restrain my excitement at releasing a plethora of features to the business user. The challenge of rebooting their mindset to unlearn the current and re-learn the future is more daunting that delivering exciting new features.
Unless, one gauges the organizational or departmental psyche towards unlearning, it is best advised to feed them one biscuit at a time and not the whole pack. The Invisible Challenge must be made visible before any ECM-BPM program is launched and to crack this code, I’m off to reading that greatest lesson ever – “Aesop’s The Hare and The Tortoise”.
Information Governance and the Middle East – Taming the Risk! June 6, 2010
Posted by Sanooj Kutty in Electronic Records Management.Tags: data governance, data security, electronic records management, enterprise information management, information governance, information management, information security governance, information technology governance, middle east, records management, regulations, respnsible information management
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We have Black Gold. We have Sovereign Wealth Funds. We are Rich. We also have strong regulations, some…
Bahrain and Qatar have good financial regulations. Abu Dhabi has better health regulations. Dubai has more focus on Trade. Above all this looms the Sheikhdom who may pardon, modify or even declare amnesty as necessary. The law here is more Civil than Common. It can’t get better, or can it?
We are a young market. The oil rich countries here are on average in their thirties. In comparison to the older markets of the US, UK, South-east Asia and Europe, who have learned through failures and success over centuries, the recent market recession was the Middle East’s first genuine failure. Genuine, not in the sense of market depression, but more in the sense of global perception and visibility. It had exposed the regulatory framework of the region. Not that it was any better elsewhere, but, here it was the lack of necessary regulations more than their weakness that was exposed.
Would Middle East see an improvement in regulations and a greater drive for corporate governance?
The answer is Yes.
Qatar has been inspired by Financial Services Authority of UK. UAE recently signed the MoU to adopt Federal Enterprise Architecture.
Would Middle East see an immediate change in management as the demand for governance increases?
The answer, sadly, is No.
The Inexperience
This is not because of the lack of will or effort, but, the lack of experience that will delay a maturity in governance. Most of the Middle East’s leadership are the entrepreneurs of the 70s and 80s. An era when the region was driven by the traditional merchant mentality boosted by the cash registers ringing from oil. This management continued to grow amidst the oil bounty that surrounded them. They were neither aware nor did they ever practice governance. As these markets learned that relying purely on oil is not the future, they opened their doors to the world.
As the world came in, it brought with it the frauds and fruits of foreign investment. The frauds mandated good governance to keep them in check. In the booming millennium, where everyone had not just a piece but almost the pie to themselves, these frauds were lost in the inexperience and the absence of governance. Until, the dark clouds of 2008 steadily enveloped the market. With darkness came recession, with recession came audit, with audit came transparency, with transparency came the need for regulations, with regulations came the need for experience, and with need for experience came the challenges.
The Challenge
This need for regulations is only the beginning. In a regulatory environment where eCommerce laws masquerade themselves as eDiscovery, this market will continue to face challenges of conventional regulations and governance practices failing to deliver results. Middle East does not find itself with the luxury of time to travel through the transition of paper-based information governance to digital information governance as most matured markets have. It cannot afford small steps and must make giant leaps to today’s era of digital information. The ambition and the global pressure are overwhelming.
Hence, it is imperative for corporates to adopt a strong Information Governance Framework. In the absence of eDiscovery laws, the only way to secure one’s risk is to govern one’s information assets. In a regulated environment, your boundaries and practices are defined. This means you always have the advantage to compying to defined regulations and protecting yourself under its umbrella.
In a non-regulated or poorly regulated market, you do not have this cushion to secure yourself. As such, the call for strong information governance is even more necessary. Be it arbitration, mediation or litigation, good information governance provides you with the security needed to protect your risks, be it market, credit, legal or operational. Challenging as it may be, if your governance and associated best practices allow you the transparency of when, who, what, where, why and how, you would have protected yourself even in the absence of regulations.
Some of the best practices to help govern your digital information would include Electronic Records Management, Business Process Management, Information Technology Infrastructure Library and Master Data Management. Above all, lies the big brother of a strong Corporate Governance ethic.
Why else would Wikipedia define Information Governance as “ the set of multidisciplinary structures, policies, procedures, processes and controls implemented to manage information on all media in such a way that it supports the organizations immediate and future regulatory, legal, risk, environmental and operational requirements.”
If you want to tame your risk out here, do not wait for the law of the land. In this case, you can surely take the law into your own hand. Middle East needs Information Governance and now!
The First Steps
Where do you start? I recommend reading “Information Nation“.
You may also visit Barclayblair.com for interesting Essays on Information Governance
As an AIIM Ambassador and an Information Management philanthropic, you may also email me on sanooj.kutty@gmail.com and I shall help you set your information governance in the right direction.
The Information Manager 