Bitcoin continues to make news and inroads into the world of finance. Two of the basic technologies that drive Bitcoin include blockchain and peer to peer computing. These two concepts are relatively understandable. Blockchain uses a distributed ledger, which is essentially a list that is shared across many computers (peer to peer). Because many computers contain a time-stamped replica of the data, it is very difficult, and expensive to hack or change the data in a fraudulent way – and its encrypted.
These concepts are moving into other areas such as smart contracts. However, these contracts are not documents as that term is generally understood. The smart contract is essentially a perfectly known set of conditions and data, that when met, results in a payment or action. The contract is essentially data points;…
To Purge or Not to Purge
Based on my observation the world consists of two types of people, purge people and non-purge people. We all know which category we fall into, but as a reminder: Purge people frequently empty out desk drawers, closets and the garage of useless documents, old clothes and stuff. Non-Purge people don’t. And yet, we all co-exist.
There is a business practice that you may be familiar with called Legal Hold. If a company is aware of or suspects litigation, that company should place all records and information related to the litigation on legal hold – don’t let the purge people get to it. Of course, nobody is happy when there is litigation, but how is it possible to lock down (or not over accumulate ) information in this day and age?
This is the… My PDFs are Dazed and Confused
One of the core principles that Millennia Group advocates and adheres to is that the official copy of a digital document should be a singular unit. What this means is that the digital version, a PDF in most cases, should contain only one document. What our users encounter, and sometimes want, is a different story.
A user may receive a single PDF from an external party that contains many documents. The other situation is where the user receives multiple PDFs that together comprise a single document. In one case the file needs to be split and in the other case, the files need to be merged. Here are some examples of why this principle of a singular unit makes sense when your PDFs are dazed and confused.
Many users will receive a single, giant PDF that contains upwards of 1,000…
The Next Big Thing
I participated in a webinar recently sponsored by Realcomm, an organization devoted to the advancement of technology for the commercial real estate industry. It was about the future and hype verses reality. My contribution was squarely on the reality side as I described how our real estate clients gain efficiency by using workflow to automate document oriented business processes.
You might think, “do we still have documents?” The answer in my world and the foreseeable world of our Fortune 5000 clients is, Yes. Documents may not be in paper form any longer, but documents of some type (spreadsheet, PDF contract, etc.), are the support for data and todays decisions. But to see the future, the next big thing, you need to believe in the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual…
Clutter of a different kind
The existence of duplicate documents and files is commonplace in companies of all sizes. There is the email with a document attachment that was sent to five people, each of whom downloaded the file. There is a file on someone’s desktop that they copied from the network. There is a copy in the cloud. You get the picture and you probably live this picture daily.
What can prevent this from happening? Does it really even matter? Companies seem to be surviving just fine, so what would be the cost benefit for an actual solution? Unless your company is a company of one, you will likely not find a perfect solution, but a combination of tactics will lower the frustration. And yes, it does matter and it will be worth it.
Companies can use de-duplication… Think Smaller, Deeper and Wider
These words, Better, Faster, Cheaper, are heard often during many corporate sales efforts – “our product will help you do that Better, Faster and Cheaper.” Everyone especially likes to purchase software that makes a process, Better, Faster and Cheaper. The key to achieving that promised success is know what the process is – really know and understand it.
There are plenty of examples where very complex software solutions were created that replicated an existing paper or manual process. The problem was that the process wasn’t fully understood and not very efficient in the first place so you have an application that may not be Faster, Better or Cheaper. You need to change the way you think when designing a workflow.
Breaking down a process step by step and understanding the rationale for each step… How to prevent that sinking feeling
In an old paper based world, notification of new information meant extra copies of the document were placed on the desks of teammates. Otherwise, it required a hunch and a trip to the file cabinet or the random perusing of co-worker’s desks. In fact, it was probably not known that something new was available until it was a surprise – learned from a customer or worse yet, from the boss who somehow knew the facts.
Today, documents are digital and some might think that has solved all the problems. Not exactly, not even close. The only problem that has been solved is now there are less paper copies distributed. Information, including documents, can still go undetected and unknown. Surprises still happen and decisions based on incomplete information are still made, but it doesn’t…
Please, not another username and password!
Form Follows Function. This is a quote from famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Sullivan designed buildings to be functional first and then worked on building aesthetics. For software implementation, you might say Function Follows Security.
For any software, especially document management software, it is extremely important to understand the capabilities of the software’s security model before you begin to work out the configuration and hierarchy of your data. That is unless you don’t mind having users who need multiple user names and passwords to create the access they need?
While going through the analysis phase of the implementation, list out the types of information that will be managed in the system. Then list out all the different groups of users that will need access to the system and what parts of the information or… Vision Influences the Purchase Decision
Speaking strictly from the standpoint of workflow and document management, there are factors that support a purchase and issues that can lead to a “Don’t Need it” response. Ifyou can’t determine need, then cost, as a factor, is irrelevant. If there is need, it is clear that cost impacts the decision and the expected return must outweigh the cost. It is a fairly simple concept but establishing need is not so simple.
How can you uncover the factors that determine need and create opportunities in the buyer’s mind? This is where the technology really must shine. There has to be enough Wow factor to override the fear of change, the expected implementation effort or simple doubt. But is it really Wow that makes someone think they need a solution or is it something…
Captains of Industry are Building Conglomerations
I heard a story about how there is a push to bring the “Hipster” crowd to Eau Claire Wisconsin, a family oriented, affordable, city of 150,000+ in Northern Wisconsin. My first response was that with current technology, people can choose to live wherever they want, so why not Eau Claire. Having this opportunity is not a new concept and in fact, people working remotely is very commonplace already.
However, what it brought to mind was that it’s not just your remote employees that you need to plan for these days. Today some portion of your business process may be outsourced and you need to plan for those workers as well. Where are those workers and how will they be included in the process? How does your technology support this new conglomeration?
Who is part… Want better software ROI? Hug a risk taker.
When it comes to software, it is important to have the right features, but you also need good functionality and some risk takers to get the most out of the investment. Features are the capabilities of the software. Functionality is all about how easy it is to use those features and apply them to real world tasks.
Most if not all users will discover the basic features and will become functional once they are trained. Only super users will play around with the application enough to figure out all the features. But how quickly will they translate the discovered features into functional solutions? That depends on how many risk takers there are in the company.
I heard someone say the other day that they would try the new application – “why not, I can’t… From Ethereum to Hadoop via Bitcoin. What?
Millennia Group is all about documents; document scanning, document workflow, document management
systems, etc. That means we are always interested in what is next and the future of the document management industry.
So it was interesting to see AIIM.org having a conversation about Hadoop (a framework to support distributed data storage and analysis) and also hearing from one of our developers about Ethereum (a distributed computing model for digital currency and digital “smart contracts”). Both of these models definitely look to the future.
It was intentional that the word “distributed” is used to describe both models. In fact, the distribution of data is part of the Cloud movement and it has some clear advantages like lower cost and higher security. Most companies want lower cost and more secure applications. Beyond the concept of distributed data, it is more difficult…
Lost Document Cost? – The Search & Wrong Answers
What is the cost of a lost document? There are two components to the cost regardless of the document being either lost or just misplaced.
One component is the potential cost that a decision is made or action taken with incomplete information and there are negative consequences. For instance, if a contract is lost, one party to the agreement could take advantage of the other party. This situation might occur even if a replacement document could be obtained, but maybe not in a timely manner. Therefore, the employee makes a decision based on what they remembered. We call this the “Oh Sh&#” cost because it usually doesn’t get noticed until it is a surprise, and its usually a bad surprise.
Another component is the cost to try to locate the document. Some amount of… When Is Automated Workflow Justified?
There are dozens of processes that every employee must participate in during the typical work week. Review the budget, create the report, enter the new contract. When does it make sense to automate that process?
If the process happens every day all day, yes, automate it. If the process is complicated and prone to errors, yes automate that. What if the process only happens once a week or once a month? Let’s look at a few other key reasons to automate.
Having a flexible solution might help grow the company by attracting new business or expanding in a current area of focus. For instance, if a process requires a special skill set but those employees are difficult to hire, having a cloud based workflow might allow you to offer a work from home option.
Some… Active vs Final Documents – Co-habitation?
A technology issue that companies deal with on a regular basis is using one application for managing active or working documents and a separate application for the archived or final documents. Active being defined as documents in the creation or working stage and final being final or executed.
This situation exists because of how and why these documents are created, accessed and shared. Certain employees are document Creators and others are document Users and their needs are very different. The Holy Grail is one application to manage both. The reality is you need two applications. Let us explain why that is not a bad thing.
Speed and flexibility is demanded by the document Creators. The Creators just want to get their job done and get it done quickly. But that is inconsistent with the… - « Previous
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