The holistic buzz word

There is a lot of talk in the ECM and BPM worlds regarding taking a more holistic stance and approach on how best to implement solutions. It seems that to deliver greater business benefit, solutions either needs to communicate far more than typical integration is possible, or that silos that typically work together are in fact delivered as a single platform.

 

ECM, CRM and BPM

These three silos are often used together. CRM utilises both ECM (for storing unstructured content found in emails or letters) and BPM for managing particular processes. However, it is argued that because these are three silos, that often the user looses track of certain information, that the systems are rather cobbled together and as such, do not deliver the effectiveness they could if they were one.

One advocate of this is Andrew Smith, the managing director at One Degree Consulting and workFile ltd.

In an interview with eBizq.net, Andrew talks about the importance and benefits of taking a more holistic approach to how businesses work, and the processes they use. You can listen to the podcast here:

http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/2011/01/taking_a_holistic_approach_to.php

At workFile, they are driving towards a singular platform that delivers these three business functions in a particular fashion. They have termed this their @WE concept (Adaptive Working Environment).

A single platform

An @WE is to deliver a single platform for CRM, ECM and BPM while being completely adaptive to the needs of the business and end users. workFile believe this so much so, that they have broken away from their BPM module and re-invested in delivering something they term APG (Adaptive Process Guidance).

If you are looking for a better definition, then you can find one at http://www.workfilesuite.com/what-is-@WE.aspx

APG, Adaptive Process Guidance

This is a new term and essentially is a new way of tackling the same problem that BPM addresses, how to manage processes. APG though is quite different, people are at the centre of APG and as such, most processing rules are not enforced on the user, rather they are suggested (or the user is guided in their work). In addition, processes need not have an end result of a particular goal being reached, rather an objective can be set.

An objective is a process that contains no work as such, rather it uses information required in order to provide information as an when needed to the end user. This is seen as a true guide, or wizard guide, for processes that do not physically require work to be carried out on an object (such as a customer record, content files etc).

You can see workFile’s definition on APG here:

http://www.workfilesuite.com/downloads/The%20APG%20Definition.pdf

Conclusion

Holistic approaches are hot talking points. They make great sense as they are designed to see the bigger picture and therefore help business deliver better service experiences. If thats the case, then a more holistic approach will help organisations retain customer bases and give them a leading edge on their competition…

More reading…

For more reading on the APG debate, visit http://andrewonedegree.wordpress.com/

CRM, ECM, BPM flowcharts, Agile Case Management and Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)

It’s a mouthful of a title isn’t it? But there are some big things happening here at One Degree with the workFile Vision suite. No sooner has version 1.0 been released, big changes are being made and put forward for version 2.0. Why is this? Well while the BPM industry looks to BPM 2.0, social BPM etc. A small band of BPM experts (a growing band)  are moving away from BPM as we know it. You may ask why?

Well first off, ECM, CRM and BPM (we will stick with BPM at the moment), are very much interlinked. Here at One Degree Consulting, we believe that these should be no longer seen as a single silo, but rather part of one solution. Changes are being made to bring this functionality closer and close in the workFile Vision product. The new release is more about empowerment. By bringing together a single, complete customer file, by empowering staff with all the information they need at hand, by empowering them to actually engage with the customer (via conversation on the web, through social media activities, via physical mail or over the phone) and to empower employees to  make good decisions that satisfy the customer needs. If you have a single silo that delivers all this then you have the capabilities to influence your customers and therefore, your market position.

Customer experience

The customer experience is everything, Apple has shown the way in this, by giving customers a good experience, via their products (if they are lacking functionality), but most importantly via their service. An Apple store makes the customer feel special; the brand makes a customer feel wanted, apple engages with its developers and customers alike very well, and because of this Apple has turned around its fortunes. So customer experience is ultimately the only way to influence your customers and your market.

To help deliver this, businesses have traditionally looked to CRM, and or ECM and tried to cobble together solutions. But is the future not therefore a single silo, a single platform for both? And if this is the case, shouldn’t that system also be able to manage the businesses processes too? Bringing together ECM, BPM and CRM is the first step, and workFile Vision, may not be the first platform to do this, but will be one of those looking to the future and delivering a single silo approach…

Movement away from BPM

For some time now, individuals have pointed out that flowcharts and traditional BPM “mapping” tools etc. are too rigid. That if anything they restrict a business’s capability to empower staff and adapt to new ways of working, new tasks and new market forces. Here at One Degree Consulting, we have long complained of the capabilities and restrictions typical BPM maps place on BPM. If you follow, Andrew Smiths blog (our MD), then you will notice he has raised this a number of times (http://andrewonedegree.wordpress.com) . However, many have identified that Complex processes cannot be mapped, and so this has led to the birth, or break away from traditional BPM. Some great reading can be found at Max J Pucher blog. http://isismjpucher.wordpress.com/

Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) are solutions that help businesses to manage processes, while empowering users to update the process, to build new ways of working and to make key decisions. Because of this, such systems free the user from all the red tape, and enable them to do a good job. Don’t be fooled though that this means less efficient processes or a drop off in quality or there is less control, rather it is quite the opposite. CAS enforces quality while empowering users, there is no specific point within the process where you can jump out to “anomaly processing”, and everything is still audited for control. CAS is about detecting and the managing those new processes, processes that are detected ultimately by the user. CAS empowers the user to not only do their work, but to have their work “modelled” ready for other users to follow.

Will workFile Vision drop BPM

There has been talk that our own workFile Vision product will drop the term BPM. Though CAS is still about managing business processes, BPM has become a term (or technology) that people immediately link to a strict flowchart type map. This is not the correct view for workFile, and as such, the term may be dropped. If so the BPM module will become a thing of the past, probably to be replaced by CAS or some other term. The current BPM module still relies on aspects of intelligent business maps, but these are now being phased out, with developers working on a more CAS type solution. The replacement will be a simple status and rules based engine, with flexibility for integration being brought into a process based on the status of the piece of work, or the content that makes it up…There is also now talk of ECM being seen as too restrictive for workFile, as workFile delivers CRM and BPM with its ECM capabilities.

So what is the future for workFile Vision? Well the product has always been about introducing new ways of working, and it is only right that version 2.0 continues to deliver new ways of working to its customers and potential new customers out there. Andrew Smith stated:

“We want workFile to be at the forefront of thinking, I think a single silo that is highly adaptive and agile is the way of the future. We also want to be flexible in how workFile is delivered, so delivery to multiple platforms such as mobile will be included, in addition elements of cloud computing and synchronisation will also be looked at.”

SaaS ECM Solutions. Worth considering…

Document management, EDMS, Image Management, call it what you like, all these names come under that grand umbrella that is ECM (Enterprise Content Management). ECM provides organisations with the capabilities to take control of any form of content, be it a document, a scanned image, a video, a presentation, an audio stream, it doesn’t matter, ECM can help you manage it. With this capability comes a wealth of potential efficiency gains, service improvements, compliance, security etc etc. However, ECM is still rather niche in the IT market place and that is because it is typically only utilised by larger organisations or organisations that have the infrastructure that can support such systems.

But, can ECM software really be utilised by SMEs, or at a departmental level without all the added baggage of internal administration? Only a few years ago, vendors would be saying yes, but in practice this would be hard to prove. However, enter the cloud, and enter SaaS (Software as a Service).

Cloud Services and SaaS

With the business concept of cloud computing comes the concept of SaaS (Software as a Service). This basically means that your software, its administration, backups etc etc all happens in the cloud and you need only pay for what you essentially use. In terms of ECM, that can mean you pay a license based on the amount of storage space you require for content, and also for the amount of use the system gets.

So what are the benefits to small organisations, or for organisations that don’t have the IT staff, or maybe just simply don’t have the time to embark on an ECM solution implementation in-house. Well, these are pretty clear cut.

1. No big initial cost (additional hardware servers, installation, on-site configuration)
2. No internal maintenance cost (IT administration and backup strategies)
3. No need for administration training
4. Quick turnaround from agreeing a solution to implementation
5. Departmental approach is very easy
6. No need to try and align with in house technologies and platforms

These are just the main reasons why ECM SaaS can work. However, don’t take this article as one that says we should all use ECM as SaaS. That would not be a great idea – as there are other things to consider, such as the type of cloud solution being used, location of files for compliance, application and system integration with other LOBs etc.

Who should ECM SaaS be for?

Well SaaS ECM solutions are perfect for departments or SMEs. They provide organisations or a department that normally wouldn’t be able to leverage ECM with a complete ECM environment over the web. Implementation costs are at a minimum and there are no overheads / hidden costs in terms of maintenance, backups etc. Also if you opt for a more traditional “Cloud Approach”, one where the vendor can tell you exactly where you’re content is being stored, then a number of compliance issues are negated immediately. It is also worth thinking about a potential “exit strategy” when utilising any cloud based solutions. Why? Well there maybe a time when it becomes logically better to have the system in-house. This could be in terms of new integration requirements, or the fact the organisation in general has now invested heavily in ECM. Who knows. In addition, there does come a time when Cloud Services can prove to be more costly than having the system in-house, so in both cases, it is worth having an exit strategy and knowing that you can export your content from the SaaS provider…

Quick Conclusion…

ECM SaaS is a great option for departments and organisations that typically couldn’t access ECM and the many benefits ECM provides. However, there are some “bewares”….

Always ensure you know your actual requirements in as much detail as possible. SaaS is a great option and has a number of benefits, however it does have its limitations and don’t choose SaaS at the expense of functionality and the actual requirement. In addition, always remember there maybe a time when you need to move away from your SaaS provider, so have an exit strategy and choose a platform that makes this as easy as possible….

Social ECM-Media? E-Social CM Media? ECM and Social Media?

We would not normally write 2 blog posts on the same area, but this time we have. The last (and first blog) was about integrating the new social media world with ECM software to minimise user downtime as people frantically try to fit social media into their normally busy day. However, I found some more  interesting info, and decided there was some more that needed to be said.

I read an interesting blog  about social media and its impact on the way training departments are delivering knowledge to their employees, partners, and customers.
Basically, the blog explained, as the level of information available to people explodes, through the 24/7 communication online with websites, video, social networks etc, an organizations will need to allow users to support themselves by tapping into the knowledge of others. As put succinctly in a separate blog: “We simply have too much information and we can’t make sense of it all”

So what do we do? We definitely need to change and evolve – that much is clear. But by how much?

The original blog explains that user-generated content in social media platforms will not necessarily replace formal content development processes, but will become an integral part. For most organisations, due to regulatory issues and the company policy, there is still a requirement for some formal governance. So what can companies do? Well, firstly they can develop their own social media bible, for example a Blogging policy – this would ensure that all employees who may be involved in manning your company blog profile are aware of what is acceptable behaviour, typical subject topics etc. While one of the big benefits of social media platforms is the ability to create content quickly, policies still often need to be put in place to ensure the integrity and proper use of this content. You might think that this is the antithesis of social media, but as this blogger points out –  even Wikipedia has formal processes for making sure user generated content is accurate – the organization has over 100 people worldwide dedicated solely to ensuring content integrity and penalizing those who attempt to use the platform for self promotion. And this has worked well – several studies have shown that Wikipedia is just as accurate as other ‘professionally generated’ knowledge media. And if you want more evidence? We have produced a number of such social media policy documents for a number of clients and they seem to have worked well in helping with social media engagement.

However, even a social media bible is not always enough. You cannot really force your employees to get engaged with Twitter and LinkedIn (or if you do, the results won’t be good anyway), but at the same time you do not want your employees to spend all their time on FaceBook, because ‘Im doing research’. So how do you encourage, but at the same time, monitor engagement? A good way, as said in our last blog, is to integrate your ECM platforms with social media so people can search within the designated social media network (you can choose what this is) for the information they need, and have a clear work flow with how to use it and who they can collaborate with – and more importantly you can audit the activity and track its value. What is more, as alluded to in the previous blog (link), social media applications, including mobile, are inherently designed to leverage small reusable content components (just think Twitter) and so this can very easily be integrated within your current ECM, or should be incorporated into your new ECM system if you are planning one.

Social media platforms are not stand alone, it works best if they ultimately become part of the enterprise “fabric” just as we have seen with email, instant messaging – it needs to go across the entire enterprise as a core infrastructure. According to this blog, companies that reported the highest level of satisfaction with their social media deployments, had more than half of their employees using them. And as the customer is always King, it is also important that the social media applications integrate well with any existing CRM (customer relationship management) system too.

So, just in case it is not clear (!), over the last 2 blogs the point I have been getting at, is that given the huge amount of info, thoughts and opinion available through social media, and the time involved in using it, it is a good idea to consider integrating some social media functionality with your current content management system. Obviously, this needs to be undertaken cautiously, so as not to stifle creativity, and so negate the point of social media altogether. But, nevertheless, having some sort of process in place, helps encourage enagement, maximise time on the value added tasks of social media and helps measure what has actually been done, and whether it has worked from a marketing perspective.

Ok so we have now had 2 blogs on this subject, but what do you think? How important is the integration of social media with ECM? Or do you think they should be kept completely separate??