Several years back, I know everyone always wanted more information and more data to make [insert adjective of choice here] decisions… Fast-forward a few years and just about everyone uses a search engine of sorts to find what they need in the mountain of data we are inundated with. What does that say about the amount of information we ingest on a weekly, daily, or even hourly? … ‘Google’ is now a verb!

I specialize in the managed print services (MPS) and document management solutions (DMS) spaces, and we always talk about discoveries as well as structured and unstructured data. Structured data is what most people are used to interacting with in the form of line of business (LOB) and database systems. Unstructured data is often the disparate file folders on servers and spread across the sea of corporate hard drives.

When interacting with all of the stakeholders in play at the various levels of our company and our clients’ companies, I often hear comments about how we need this information or should have that data. Sure, having the data is one thing, but is it meaningful to the company or our clients?

You see information is a tricky thing. If you don’t have enough the risk of making an ill-advised and/or unsupported decision is quite possible. However, there is an even more dangerous myth afoot in the world today; That is too much information is even worse.

Well how could too much information be a bad thing? Ever try drinking water from a fire hose at full blast? Exactly!

Our sensory perception allows us to take in quite a bit of information, process it, and make subsequent decisions or adjustments in order to achieve certain goals. Our minds can only handle so much information before it starts filtering out what it believes extraneous to allow us to focus on what is important. When I moved back from San Diego, the silence and still of a country night was maddening for a time; my mind had gotten use to all of the motion and action and took some time to ratchet back down.

With information hitting us from so many directions every day, to see a massive blob of numbers in rows and columns means absolutely nothing until our mind can process the information. So how do you dissect the data into manageable and usable information?

I won’t go into some of the more arcane methods of BI, but one easy way is to manage by exceptions. This goes back to having processes to manage your business. If you have flexible processes to manage your business you can watch for exceptions to your process and manage to those variances. Be cautious of the variances, and spend time investigating the ‘why?’ behind them; these will often lead you to discoveries of flawed processes. It is important to heed and fully understand the problems, and when realized move quickly and accurately to resolve them.

For those of you in the “copier dealer” channel (although I’m loath to use this term) you are probably wrestling with the realities of Document Management Systems (DMS). In a recent article in ImageSource titled Top 10 Industry Trends, authored by John Mancini, the President of AIIM.

In this article John outlines what he believes to be the top 10 drivers within the DMS space… Being in the business of documents, I found the article compelling.  Not surprisingly, taking the number 1 spot was the momentum SharePoint is garnering. John goes on to say:

1. The entry of Microsoft SharePoint as a serious player in the document and records infrastructure marketplace.  This is one of the most important developments in evangelizing these technologies that we have ever seen. Suppliers and consultants will debate what MOSS can do and what it can’t.  But it won’t matter; it will spread like kudzu through the end user community.

John could not be more dead on with this. With the advent of SharePoint 3.0, whether it be the enterprise or SMB offering, Microsoft has taken root in the document space. We use it daily for both an Intranet solution as well as for dashboarding and workflow. Microsoft has once again bundled a core offering into the OS; since it is free to get started, meets some entry needs for the SMB, and is extremely compatible with the predominant desktop OS and Office suites it is indeed “spread[ing] like kudzu” (John must’ve been to South Carolina recently)!

While this solution is great for “evangelizing” the DMS/CMS market, I have quickly discovered it is not a very good DMS solution. Don’t mistake the fact that it has some wonderful collaborative tools and is extremely solid in ad hoc workflow solutions. However, SharePoint offerings are not true DMS’s in and of themselves.

Education is a tough thing here because many people don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to store a document within a database, as part of the SQL table record. It took me seeing what happens when you hit your first 20,000 documents stored - or worse have a client hit 3,000,000 pages 3 years early!

The performance takes a huge hit, and backups are a nightmare simply because you are handling 1 huge file instead of incrementally dealing with each file as needed. Think about your entire customer base calling you on Monday morning demanding a service call! You’re service team would crumble.

In closing, SharePoint will give your dealership the opportunity to talk to more customers about DMS, but if you don’t get there first and have an education strategy for them - you are the one that will get schooled.

My suggestion is to partner or acquire talent that can bring SharePoint knowledge into your company. It’s a technology that has its place - so you can either learn to use it to your advantage or see how much longer selling copiers with Paperport will last…

Tomorrow we discuss the entry of “alternative” delivery systems… what does that even mean?

A colleague of mine once told me that people in the IT field were classified as one of two personality types: a farmer or a pioneer. He went on to explain that a farmer is one who patiently plows the land reaping small rewards and taking what nature gives him or her. The pioneer, however, is out exploring the vast and undiscovered wilderness, setting trails where no one has dared travel before.

I have worked with many people over my short career in technology, and what I have found staggering is the amount of individuals in IT that are just that – individuals. Let me explain… First, they do not participate as part of the larger team – and most certainly do not ‘get’ the grander business needs. Second, their customer service focus is wholly lacking so they often resemble the computer guy off of SNL. Third, they view themselves as guard dogs, taking care of the corporate computers – which is not an dishonorable position in and of itself; but they settle for the scraps of meat thrown from the corporate table…

With all this said, a bit tongue-in-cheek, many IT professionals still do not seek out ways to decrease costs, increase revenues, and improve employee job satisfaction through advances in USABLE business technology applications and initiatives. To some extent, I can understand the mentality of protecting your little corner in the maze of corporate cubicles, but what I cannot stomach are those that have no vision or inkling of corporate strategy and how to positively impact this. Instead, they plod along picking the land dry instead of blazing a trail looking for new paths that others may follow one day.

If you are a manager, director, or C-level individual – and are not a pioneer, you may want to stand up and peek outside your door to make sure there isn’t someone younger and hungrier coming your way! Get a clue people… align yourself to your customer and add-value to what you are offering; if not you may be put out to pasture like an old mule…

Regards,

Ken