Our guest opinion-maker today is Dan Antion, Vice President of Information Services for American Nuclear Insurers. Dan is responsible for information technology at ANI and works with a small team addressing ECM. (The opinions in this piece are Dan's, not ANI's.) Dan has presented at the AIIM Expo during each of the past four years, three times talking about SharePoint and once talking about working with a small budget. He has completed AIIM's ECM Master course. His blog can be found at http://www.SharePointStories.com. He can be reached via e-mail at and can also be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Dan is a two-time "8 things" columnist:
- 8 things vendors need to know about selling document management to small businesses
- 8 things small businesses need to know about document management
8 Things to Try When Marketing ECM Projects
Recently on Information Zen, a question was asked regarding how to introduce ECM to an older workforce. Age isn’t the issue; introducing ECM in any environment for the first time will face challenges. In many ways, gaining acceptance for ECM is a marketing effort; below are eight techniques that might help you market your project.
1. Showcase Success.
When you do make progress, even if it’s a very small example, talk about it, show it off and be sure to give credit to the other people involved. If you present things in terms of “this is what I (we) did over here” the process will always be seen as yours. By showcasing the work of others you communicate the fact that “this is a company project”.
2. Focus on Education.
Training is critical and you might be surprised at the topics people would like to see included in a training session. What seems second nature to you is new ground for others. Offer training specifically about ECM and, when you conduct other training, include a section on how that topic supports or is supported by the ECM effort. Keep your training limited to a few topics at a time; start with the basics and repeat the basics often. Consistent with #1, involve others in your training whenever possible.
3. Take People to AIIM/Industry Meetings.
I try to attend every AIIM New England meeting and last year I started bringing a guest with me to those meetings. When your guest hears other people talking they realize ECM isn’t your personal mission. When they look around the room and see people of all ages, they realize that ECM isn’t a generational thing. And, when they look at the name tags and see the companies represented, they realize ECM isn’t just for certain industries.
4. Showcase Problems.
This is a little trickier than showcasing success but it’s a powerful tool. Content management, collaboration and the changes to the business process that often accompany an ECM project solves problems. When you can present “how it used to be” vs. “how it is today”, you send a strong message. If you can get someone from the problem area to help send that message, it becomes even more powerful.
5. Spread the Word but Let People Opt-in.
Stay plugged into industry media and social media outlets like groups on LinkedIn, Information Zen and Twitter but don’t share everything with everyone. Be an aggregator for your company. Compile white papers, reprints, links, etc. and make access to that material easy. Send out weekly updates or, if you can use a blog or discussion group option, let people subscribe to your updates.
6. Learn Their Business.
I have the benefit of having been in the same company for over 20 years so I can use examples that I know are relevant to the individual or business unit I’m talking to. People respond much better when you frame a solution in terms that relate to their day-to-day life. I remind myself every day that while “I do this for a living, they do something else”. They expect you to understand your job; show them that you also understand theirs.
7. The Problem isn’t Generational or Departmental or…
When you ask people to adopt an ECM solution, you are asking them to change their behavior. I wrote a series about this on my blog because I think it is the single most overlooked aspect of any significant business change. You have to convince people that either they will benefit from ECM or that the company will benefit in a way that offsets the changes they have to accept. Resist the temptation to write their ambivalence off to age, department, business function, etc., it only gets in the way of success.
8. Take Advantage of Management Support.
If you have the support of management, make the most of that. Make sure that managers attend training sessions so they can be seen “nodding in support” of the topics that are covered. If you make progress on an issue, Send a complimentary email to the manager(s) of the people on your team (#1 again). People want to impress their boss, they want their boss to know they are doing the right things but they need to hear that those are, in fact, the things their boss cares about.
-----Some recent "8 things" posts:
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