This year was incredibly informative year AIIM! We learned how vendors and end users are both positioning to adhere to GDPR guidelines, robotic process automation will take over a lot of the tasks that make
work life weary and there was a lot of talk about corporate culture and
empowerment. These were topics of discussion in both the special interest group, "Women in Information
Management" (WIIM), as well as a main theme, especially with regard to
generational gaps in technology utilization.
The conference started off with an amazing collaborative workshop with, "The Ultimate Keynote Session." That was actually the name of it. Led by Anna Wilson and Monty Powell, two amazing artists from Nashville, we wrote a song. It was an equalizer in a room of folks with different backgrounds. AIIM attracts records managers, attorneys and technologists from a wide variety of backgrounds. There are service providers, end users, strategists and analysts, and invariably you can go from feeling like you are on top of the industry to, "I've still got so much to learn", in a few hours. Using music and songwriting as a way to bridge the gaps in everyone's learning curve was a hilarious way to get the conference started. Along the way, they offered some general rules of engagement in collaboration that were transferable to the rest of the sessions in the conference. The chorus went like this:
Intelligent information management
If you ain’t pointing the way, you’re just a Luddite intransigent
Because as different as we all
seem
We all rely on technology
And at AIIM our aim is to lead
the way. . .
YES! We actually got to use the word "intransigent" in a song!
The Solution Showcase
In the solution showcase, the
most apparent difference was the lack of hardware manufacturers in the standard
document scanning line. I saw two specialized (high volume) vendors, and two desktop models, but the general mid-volume/workgroup space wasn't well
represented at all. This is one of the fascinating things about AIIM to
me. It operates anywhere from two to seven years ahead of widespread adoption.
While there is still plenty of work to do in the paper conversion space of
general businesses, understanding what's coming at us as predicted by the
information habits and patterns of people will ensure a growth path that will lead to later
success. It also helps us to evaluate solutions as they become available, long
before they are commoditized.
The Sessions: GDPR, Analytics, and Culture
GDPR was a huge focus, especially for international companies. Essentially, this formalizes the protection of personal data of Europeans and aims to give control back to citizens and residents over their personal data. The fact that this coincided with the Zuckerberg testimony to congress made it even more relevant. GDPR was adopted on April 27, 2016, but goes into enforceable effect on May 25, 2018, so international companies need to ensure that there is now a single set of rules that apply across the board if they possess any information about any European citizen. According to the European Commission, "personal data is any information relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, professional or public life. It can be anything from a name, a home address, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, or a computer’s IP address."1
In addition to all of the data protection, companies
are starting to use data analysis instead of document analysis where possible.
Mortgage companies that offer online applications and eforms have more insight to how you answered a question, rather than simply what your answer was. For instance, not only will they know if you answered "single" or "married" for your marital
status, but they will know how long it took you to answer that question. In this scenario, underwriters have found a correlation between the likelihood of defaulting on your mortgage and how long it took you to answer if you were
married or not.
In social media, search engines, and media sites, you can see these predictive analytics at work with targeted marketing based on preferences. All data can be used to create a series of rules when certain criteria are met. If you buy cereal, you will likely need milk, so the rules or algorithm would present milk ads to cereal buyers. This can be applied to business logic, too. Computers can now learn how to do repetitive tasks so that humans, the most sophisticated organic computer, can be optimized to only deal with situations that can't be programmatically resolved. Humans were presented as the most powerful organic computer processor in existence. Using humans to do these repetitive tasks is an inefficient use of computing power. This translates into moving toward "designing" work instead of "doing" work. This will continue to underscore the need for companies like ours to be involved in business process mapping.
On the final day, the keynote was presented by Mike Walsh, a futurist speaker, who advised that these changes aren't optional. Without going into a discussion about electronic devices for children, he eluded to the fact that predictive engines are already serving up the next video on YouTube, and so on, which is going to create a culture that expects information to be presented to them. It's rare that these kids channel surf to find something to watch. Pertinent and meaningful items are presented to them based on their recent choices, and that same level of intelligence is going to be expected in the workplace.2
"The next generation, shaped by AI, will expect
companies to predict their needs, make their interactions more personal, and be
persuasive about their behaviors."
— Mike Walsh
On a professional side, the idea of creating this kind of
work environment for both our company and our clients is daunting, but doable. All
these things map back to some very specific cultural components that are critical
to evolving our company into its mature state. When combined with the
corporate culture exercises that I've been doing in order to grow my team, the
time is right to assimilate these ideas into the framework of what Deau is.
On a personal side, I’m going to get my kid off of his iPad
before he expects me to predict what he wants for dinner.
Thanks for reading!- Eren
Resources:
1 From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation>
2 From <https://www.dropbox.com/...preview=20180412+AIIM+San+Antonio+Summary.pdf>
www.AIIM.ORG
1 comment:
Eren...most appreciated.Thank you! Did not attend this year...piece provided me with a good sense of issues/ideas/thoughts....great capture!!
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