Ergo Information Management Consulting exhibited in the ‘Expert Corner’ at the recent AIIM Boot Camp in Toronto. It was a great opportunity to network with current and past clients, and other individuals who are striving to improve their organizations’ recorded information management practices.
In addition to several education sessions and opportunities to visit the vendor sponsors, John Mancini (President of AIIM) kicked off the day with a presentation entitled, “The Process Revolution and the Role of the Information Professional”. That presentation is reviewed below.
Systems of Record vs. Systems of Engagement
Mr. Mancini began by reviewing how we’ve moved from ‘systems of record’ (that is, the tools, repositories, and systems upon which organizations have built their business processes for the last several decades such as document management with its focus on transactions, processes and documents) to ‘systems of engagement’ (i.e. tools such as content management and social business systems that overlay and complement organizations’ deep investments in systems of record by providing Web-based access, usability across a variety of hardware and software platforms, and cross-organizational collaboration as organizations focus on web content and interactions).
This shift occurred at the same time as the focus of information technology (IT) shifted from a traditional focus on standardizing and automating back-end manual processes (aka a focus on control) to a focus on empowering and connecting knowledge workers and improving knowledge worker productivity and innovation. For more information on this shift, check out Geoffrey Moore’s white paper for AIIM, Systems of Engagement and the Future of Enterprise IT: A Sea Change in Enterprise IT.
Mr. Mancini stressed that while the typical user of a system of engagement doesn’t care about control, the content in those systems will inevitably be subject to the same legal and social restrictions as traditional enterprise content. Consequently, enterprise endorsement and adoption of consumer-style communication and collaboration tools is limited, and will continue to be limited, until the content management industry and its customers figure out policies and protocols (aka control) to address the issues.
The remainder of the presentation explored the five points (or demands) in AIIM’s e-book, #OccupyIT: A Technology Manifesto for Cloud, Mobile and Social Era (the #OccupyIT Manifesto or the Manifesto). They are: 1) commit to the cloud, 2) mobilize everything, 3) make the business social, 4) digitize anything that moves, and 5) prepare for extreme information management.  I’ll discuss each of these five points in Part 2 of this article.
