According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2016 and 2026 about 90% of job growth will be in service producing industries. Sears is embarking on what might be a crazy idea that they can revive their retail model by making the stores smaller and what looks like increasing the level of service or service offerings related to what they sell. Is this where the new jobs will come from, purchasers getting more service?
The U.S. BOL stats indicate that the number two jobs creator will be in Professional and Business Services and number 12 will be Information, including data processing and hosting. Business software providers must fit into one of those two categories. However, software providers, like Retailers, can suffer from a purchase decision based primarily on cost and functionality. …
The Ideal plan may not seem ideal
The prospect of getting a company to change a long established process is difficult, especially when that process touches multiple departments. That should not discourage technology solution providers and businesses from having the confidence to make well thought-out ideas happen, even if seemingly idealistic.
Despite excellent planning, some hurdles will take a long time to clear. One or two parts of the plan may need to slip into a later phase. Creating a plan that needs to deviate from the ideal solution in the short term may be disappointing, but could it be the ideal plan in the end?
Using a phased approach is common when implementing big corporate wide applications. ERP implementations come to mind where the initial phase might include rolling out the accounting module then subsequent phases add the CRM module,…
Try doing less, it really works
It is usually with good intentions that a project is tackled with extreme attention to detail. Every possible variation of input and output are considered and analyzed. Focus groups are put together to gather information from all interested parties. The process is time consuming but can result in some good data being gathered and a successful project outcome. It is the right way to do things.
Now the hard part is trying determine how users will find that data if they need it again. The data that was gathered may have dug up some minutia but also large sets of data that will be used every day. The trick is to provide the everyday user with the ability to find information in a few clicks (simple interface) but also provide a way to…
Collaboration requires collaboration
Every business wants its staff to perform at its peak and to get one plus one to equal three through communication and collaboration. Collaboration can be complicated, even with technology. Maybe the best way to highlight how complicated collaboration can be, is to think about the creation of a report that summarizes a new project.
The report could span multiple departments or even include inputs from outside parties. Therefore, security becomes an issue. Some collaboration may be parallel such as when working on budget numbers simultaneously in an online spreadsheet. Other collaboration may be sequential wherein the spreadsheet then provides input for the narrative part of the report – can’t start one without the other. The archival of the completed report needs to be managed as well. These are all issues that make any single technology solution a difficult fit.
To…
Are you who you say you are?
If you’re a fraudster you can easily obtain a fake driver’s license or passport. You can create a fake social media profile complete with fake friends. It’s difficult to confirm the actual identity of someone without a DNA profile or finger print on file with the FBI. And that is for confirming someone in person much less remotely.
The widespread use of electronic signatures has taken longer than some people expected and that is partially due to the ability to verify the signers. If we could feel as comfortable with the validity of the electronic signature as we do with a wet signature, electronically signed documents would become the norm. But electronic signatures come in varying degrees of authenticity so which one do you use?
Electronic signatures can include a simple, dropped in jpg… Too many to choose from
Do you ever marvel at the number of choices available in the bottled water aisle at any grocery store or online market? There are dozens of options to choose from. How about barbeque sauces, bourbon, pizza or crackers? There are far too many choices and it gets frustrating and time consuming to make any kind of decision.
This has some similarities to the frustration many people experience when they are searching for a file at work. They may find a copy of the file duplicated in multiple places. Determining which copy is the final version is both time consuming and frustrating. The process of de-duplicating is not an easy task, but reducing our choices has obvious benefits and it can be done.
In document management terms, de-duplicating is the process of eliminating redundant copies… Blockchain will heat up your document strategy
We recently attended and exhibited at a technology trade show for the commercial real estate industry. The technologies that were in the spotlight were wide ranging from remotely monitored and controlled water values to AI solutions for recurring administrative tasks. Less “hot” technologies were also represented like accounting, lease management and of course workflow and document management systems.
Blockchain is poised to spice up the future of the document management world. There is quite a way to go before transactions are conducted and documented with blockchain documents. However, the concept is promising and it is sure to have an impact on how documents are stored, created, shared and even alter the definition of a document.
First, some background. Blockchain is a word that is used to describe a method of storing information that makes… Has efficiency peaked with mobility?
It seems simple to envision the tools required by a mobile worker. The basics quickly jump to mind including a phone, a laptop, chargers of course and a Starbucks or Panera card. Then you need a location, which could include a home office, an office suites membership or the aforementioned coffee shop.
The real tools of the trade are more software oriented. It’s critical to have a fully cloud based infrastructure or a VPN that provides access to your CRM, accounting system/ERP, messaging app, email and of course documents. The emergence of technology and the disappearance of ledger books, the Rolodex and filing cabinets resulted in amazing efficiency gains. Now that these tools are also available to mobile users, has efficiency peaked?
Even with all of the great new tools at our disposal, incorrect… Security shaming is working
Okay, maybe security shaming is not the proper way to describe security awareness training. No matter how its labeled, it’s working. We don’t receive emails with employee or patient lists attached. We aren’t given access to a Box account where we can see all company information instead of only the one folder we should see.
More and more we recognize the need to share information in a secure manner. Nobody wants to be the one who accidently released a million names and social security numbers. Security awareness training, a standard ritual now at most companies, is effective at helping to prevent accidental releases, but ensuring that information is securely shared could be a lot easier.
Its already commonplace to ask Siri and Alexa to answer a question, and they do quite accurately. Cars can… Don’t be Frightened, Be Practical
There is no denying that many businesses absolutely need automation in order to get to that next level of efficiency. Unfortunately, large companies with large budgets drove the development of most automation solutions and therefore, those solutions are very complex.
This legacy complexity creates an actual and perceived barrier to implementation. Small to medium businesses (“SMB”) don’t have the training and support resources, nor the cash runway to implement and achieve the promised benefits from automation. But SMBs, don’t be deterred, there are automation solutions that will fit your budget, workforce and customer needs.
The poster child of complex solutions for efficiency gains is an enterprise resource planning system or ERP. Software solutions have a tendency to be built to do everything, but as we all know, that can lead to an application that… Czar needed, must be friendly
If it’s a common refrain in your company that nobody can find anything on the file server or in the document management system, you are not alone. In many cases a company believes this is because they have a digital document organization problem or possibly the lack of a document czar.
Just because a company is not staffed entirely with former librarians doesn’t mean that a lack of organization is the only problem. There may be other factors at play, like for instance, rapid growth or a string of acquisitions. However, what’s really missing might be a document collection strategy.
Documents come into the organization in many ways – documents created internally, email, downloads, thumb drives and there is still paper. Your document management solution needs to have multiple ways to collect or ingest… It’s not so simple
At some point every business probably feels a bit undervalued or unappreciated by customers or maybe by the markets. This may or may not be justified, but we’ve all been there. Over the years we have gained a deep understanding and appreciation for one group of businesses in particular that might feel this way – manufacturers.
There is tremendous complexity in the manufacturing business model of sourcing parts, labor and materials, making something out of that and then selling and servicing that product. Then there are also government regulations and customer compliance requirements to factor in. There are highly complex software applications that help keep the cost of that seemingly simple widget at $2.00. It’s really not so simple.
It starts with design, which generates drawings and a parts list. Bids for the parts… In documents we trust, data not so much
Some day in the future it is plausible that paper documents in the business world will disappear. Electronic documents, however, in the form of PDF’s, Word files or Excel spreadsheets, will continue to exist. In fact, it will be a very long time before documents, and the content of the documents, cease to be important in the business world.
Technology has enabled simple processes or transactions to occur entirely with online forms and direct data entry. But there are still many instances where the content in a complex document becomes the data for accounting or ERP systems or documents. It is easy to see what was keyed in, but In Documents we trust.
Some business processes are being converted to an entirely form based process where the concept of a document doesn’t pertain. Take… Artificial Intelligence – Getting to Know You
How will artificial intelligence (“AI”) impact our world? There are knowledgeable people talking up the potential positive uses of AI and there are knowledgeable people voicing concern over the potential problems. On the positive side are articles generally oriented towards business efficiency gains, of which IBM’s Watson is a widely seen example.
Many companies are looking for a better way to help manage the explosive growth files and documents and they are hoping that AI and Watson can benefit them. The rate of growth is exponential and that is creating increased user search times and poor results accuracy – inefficient. AI might help users find the information that they are looking for, but Watson is going to have to get to know each user and know each user very well first.
Finding the right… Technology goggles make work flow
The first thing that comes to mind when you hear about workflow is most likely order and process. There is validity in that thought. Workflow is intended to deliver efficiency and cost saving by using defined order and automated process. Defining what the process should be is the tricky but necessary part and it’s the fun part. Yes, fun. When you dig in and people realize how many time wasting tasks can be eliminated, you can feel the joy. So how do you re-connect the dots to create an effective digital workflow and really make work flow? Put on your technology goggles and look at the process.
The first step is to have the people involved in the process document how the process works. This will initially result in a small number of… - « Previous
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