Technology Reseller v11

technolog y reseller.co.uk 27 AIIM FORUM UK Wouldn’t it be great if knowledge workers didn’t have to worry about things like governance and records retention policies because technology looked after that automatically Anywhere and AODocs – that have a lot of these capabilities already inherent in their solutions. Users are looking for tools that are intuitive, appified, usable without a lot of IT involvement, easy to integrate into the way they work and consumable by the drink, not by the gallon. Those are important ingredients for any solution and our vendors need to take that to heart. Gone are the days of a one-size, monolithic answer that costs millions of pounds and takes months to implement. That’s just not going to happen anymore. TR: In the UK, we have a persistent problem with low productivity. Do you have any thoughts on why productivity in the UK is so low even though we have all these tools which should be making things quicker and more flexible? PW: There are probably a few reasons. Obviously, it is a hybrid world and we still have what we call our systems of record. A lot of organisations have invested a great deal of money in them and they are loathe to look at anything else; people are comfortable and nobody likes change. Similarly, the solution providers that have made those sales are not going to cut off their bread and butter. People need to look to younger workers who are coming into the workplace with a completely different mindset and completely different expectations. At AIIM, new employees under 40 have taught us so much about the tools they use every day, and it’s easier than you think to take advantage of them. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It goes back to what I was saying earlier; what tool, if you use it, is going to have the biggest impact on your business? Business needs to drive those decisions. Five years ago, AIIM made a game-changing investment in a new age, easy-to-use, cloud-native marketing automation tool, and the most astounding thing is that our IT team had nothing to do with its implementation – it was driven completely by business. To date, it is the most successful thing we have ever done, because there was a business reason to do it. It was up and running in two weeks and now 90% of our staff use this tool and we push about 90% of our processes through it. We are using it for things for which it wasn’t intended and that’s another characteristic of digital transformation. It’s a mindset – letting business lead the decision around where the next £1 million is coming from and what tools are needed to get there. TR: What impact have developments like digitisation had on your membership? PW: That’s one of the most exciting things for AIIM. When we look at the AIIM membership from a functional perspective it used to be a third, a third, a third. A third were IT types; a third were line of business owners, people in accounts payable, finance, sales and marketing; and a third were document record specialists, our genus, our core, the people who would join, pay dues and come to the conference. In the last five years, as business is getting more involved in all of this and as information management in general has become more democratised, people who didn’t have any records management or document management legacy or expertise are coming into our world. And that’s because they have to. Today, all of us are information brokers – we are brokering information all the time in our personal and professional lives. Some of us are stewards of that information, charged with looking at the big picture, which is where AIIM plays. But over the last five years, our largest growth has been in that line of business group, because it is business that is driving these decisions. That’s exciting for us and very exciting for the solutions providers in our space, because that is where their customers are coming from. TR: Are emerging technologies like AI and RPA a challenge to your core members? PW: I don’t think so. Everyone freaks out that their jobs will be displaced, but history shows that every time there has been a major paradigm shift, it doesn’t eliminate jobs, it just makes different jobs. The total number of jobs never gets reduced. I think we are in that boat here. Wouldn’t it be great if knowledge workers didn’t have to worry about things like governance and records retention policies because technology looked after that automatically and, instead, got to work on mission-critical, customer-facing activities, to improve the business they are in and the value they provide. When it comes to using the disciplines and the experience they have, there are some direct connections with emerging technologies. For example, blockchain is all about ledgers, it’s all about records, so there’s a very specific play in blockchain for our records management members; AIIM Forum UK 2018 – Wednesday, June 20 – IBIS Earls Court, London – www.aiimforum.co.uk Organised by AIIM (Association for Intelligent Information Management), AIIM Forum UK 2018 brings together 300 information management professionals for a day of learning and networking. Highlights include: n Keynote speakers, including Jo Pedder of the ICO & Peggy Winton, President of AIIM n A GDPR Clinic for one-to-one free expert advice n A GDPR Discussion Panel n Seminars from over 25 industry thought leaders n Roundtable discussions for sharing best practice with peers n An exhibition featuring products and services from leading suppliers CIP Exam Prep Workshop – Tuesday, June 19 In this Certified Information Professional (CIP) Preparatory Workshop, students will learn why the CIP certification was created, how CIP relates to and is different from other professional designations; and what the exam involves. Through a combination of presentations, discussions, exercises and activities, they will also learn how to manage information throughout the information lifecycle. Attendees will receive a CIP Study Guide as well as workshop training materials. http://info.aiim.org/emeapublicclassesinterest-0-0 Continued...