Notes

Content Management Technologies and Alphabet Soup: 26 Ideas to Spell Success
Content management technologies advance so quickly that it's hard to keep up. From enterprise content management (ECM) to electronic document management (EDM), business process management (BPM), business intelligence (BI), EDRM (electronic document and records management), records and information management (RIM) and more, technology increasingly resembles a plate of alphabet soup. So many acronyms are floating around that it's hard to learn what order to place the letters in and what they're supposed to spell.

Whether you're scanning files for historical reference, providing information access with a customer portal, or come in the midst of enterprise-wide process automation, there are standard steps you need to take that will help you to succeed. No matter what acronym your solution spells or what your targets are, these 26 steps ought to be applied and revisited throughout your project implementation. If you miss one, your project might turn out a bit differently from what you are hoping for. How and when you use each tip is up to you, but make sure you use them all!

Align your business and IT goals. Some of the greatest project failures result from a mismatch. IT's role is to support business objectives, nonetheless it resources are often stretched. Educate one another. Negotiate.

Budget carefully. Software and hardware alone don't represent Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Customizations, disaster recovery planning, training, and testing carry costs. Plan accordingly.

Collaborate with all of your department managers. Set enterprise goals even if you're you start with a departmental project. Think globally. Otherwise, you'll find yourself reworking projects unnecessarily.

Document your business processes carefully. Diagram the steps in each process. Know where processes and documents intersect. Look for duplication which can be streamlined or eliminated.

Evaluate project goals against your company's 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year vision. Know where your organization and your department want to be in the foreseeable future. Does assembling your project support those goals?

Fight to accomplish things right the very first time. It's better to undertake an inferior project and take action well than to fail to meet end goals. Pick a painful process first, or one where automation will produce substantial ROI.

Gauge employee readiness for change. Resistance can result in sabotage. Don't keep your employees in the dark about your targets. Show your employees how you plan to help them succeed.

Hire outside services wherever you do not have time, skills, or resources. If you can find too many slowdowns, hiccups or delays, assembling your project will miss deadlines, will not be taken seriously, and may risk irrelevancy.

Involve your staff. Understanding, improving, and automating processes requires knowing every part of your business. Addressing the bottom of how things really work requires everyone's help.

Judge no one. You can't embrace every scheme for improvement, but you need creative ideas. In the event that you squash a few, you may silence the voices you must reach your potential. Be considered a good listener.

Keep nothing that's not essential. If there isn't any regulation requiring you keep a document-and you know it isn't important for legal, historical, or business reference-get gone it. No more clutter!

Learn everything you can from peers and colleagues. Check with others who have implemented similar solutions. What advice do they have from their experiences? What would they do differently?

Maximize efficiency wherever possible. Is comparable information collected for multiple departments? Are more people involved in an activity than necessary? Can forms or steps be condensed or eliminated?

Notify your vendor immediately when expectations aren't being met. Most problems derive from miscommunication, not poor technology. Address issues while they're small. Don't allow them fester.

Orchestrate efficiency with smart integration. To recycle meaningful information wherever it has value, information technologies must be connected. Otherwise, you're underutilizing your data.

Prepare staff for change. Ensure you not only have an exercise program set up; communicate early and frequently with employees to allay concerns. Remember, you need them to succeed. Help them to accomplish it.

Question how things are done and make improvements. Because get more info 've done something a particular method for years doesn't mean it's still relevant. Automating poor processes makes them faster, not better.

Review goals regularly and make adjustments. Even though it's important to stick to your vision, sometimes things are discovered mid-way that demand rethinking. Schedule periodic reviews.

Start small (but think big). Even though technology projects ought to be made with enterprise goals at heart, start small and build on each success. Set realistic, achievable goals. Employees will value that.

Test, test, test. Whether you're scanning documents, automating routine processes, or mechanizing your retention program, make sure it works. Testing is relatively cheap. Fixing things later is costly.

Understand the needs of everybody on your own team. Encourage ideas for ongoing improvements. Plan face time as an organization so diverse needs and possible solutions could be discussed. Keep an open mind.

Verify everything you think you realize. Restate goals alongside next steps. Clarify who is responsible for what, by which time, and required resources. Put expectations and deliverables on paper.

Work diligently toward your targets. Internal demands can distract staff from project goals. Give staff the time and resources they have to stay focused. If you cannot, hire your vendor or other qualified help.

Xerox forget about. Capture information in the beginning of the information cycle-upon creation or receipt-not at the end of your processes. Otherwise you're extra cash unnecessarily and losing efficiency.

Yield to cost cutting with great caution. If you budget your hardware, software, integration, upgrades, and staffing needs carefully, and put all expectations on paper, you shouldn't have to cut.

Zero in on success. Mark milestones. Frame your first shredded file. Give away t-shirts when ROI is achieved. Provide a pat on the trunk. Show appreciation to encourage repeat performance. Celebrate!

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Optical Image Technology offers an integrated suite of imaging, document management, and workflow software, including document archiving, lifecycle management, electronic forms, and email management products. For more info rmation about our services and products visit our website at http://www.docfinity.com, email [email protected], or call us at 800-678-3241.

Laurel Sanders joined OIT because the Director of Marketing in August, 2004 and was named Director of PR and Communications in January of 2008. Business articles by Laurel have been featured regularly in imageSource, Office World News, Today, and ECM Connection.
Here's my website: https://app.glosbe.com/profile/7053557160734624989