Did you ever stop to consider just how many interconnected moving parts there are in the typical content and information management strategy?
Client councils, vendor briefings, and association business in just the past few days have dragged yours truly up and down the spectrum of technology and management challenges and dramatically illustrated just how important it is to consider them all when embarking down the planning path.
• On the one hand, I went from e-forms, imaging, and capture to ECM, BPM, and the cloud to indexing, storage, and retrieval.
• On the other hand, I went from benefit analysis and change management to content inventory and ‘green’ ramifications to user training and adoption incentives.
While few of the specifics can be divulged because of the need for confidentiality, it is safe to say that each of the parties involved has a better understanding today than before of how interrelated all these parts are. For instance:
• E-forms are only as effective as the processing solution they front-end and must be evaluated in that context.
• Cloud solutions represent creative alternatives to traditional software licensing models, but their efficacy can only be truly determined by first analyzing your current load in time and costs.
• Sustainability and other ‘green’ objectives can be met as part of a ‘regular’ information management initiative if care is taken up-front to build them into the program. Otherwise, they can become PR footnotes at best, and out-and-out distractions at worst.
Whatever your particulars, the lesson here is that virtually nothing in this arena happens in a vacuum. The trick to understanding all the connections is to map them out as precisely as you can, assigning metrics to each to the greatest degree possible. That will put you on the road to making smart business and technology decisions, and receiving maximum total value from the solutions you choose.
Want to get “maximum total value” from your information management solution? Read this and then ask us about our special training on the subject!