8 Factors to Consider in Creating an Information Management Strategy--#2
1 -- Talk to Your Employees.
Technology decisions have traditionally been handed down from the top, forced on employees along with a training manual and a help desk number. But there’s a fundamental difference between giving your employees technology that they have to use and giving them technology they want to use. Before you formulate your information management strategy, consider talking with your employees. Do they feel enabled—or disabled—by technology? Chances are, they have some pretty valuable insights into what isn’t working, and maybe even some technology recommendations. Individuals and departments often find creative ways to work around cumbersome infrastructure and platforms, implementing wikis, extranets, and cloud content management platforms to better manage and share information. Take a look at the organic processes your employees have put in place and the solutions they’ve adopted—if they’re working, why not consider broader deployment?
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2 -- Leverage the Cloud.
With geo-distributed workforces, an explosion of business information, and decisions that need to be made in real-time, there’s a massive disconnect between the legacy infrastructure businesses have deployed and the problems they’re meant to solve. Transitioning from on-premise solutions to cloud-based platforms brings cost efficiencies, shorter deployment times, and platforms that can scale to accommodate company growth and massive amounts of data without penalty. Between Amazon EC2 for infrastructure-as-a-service, Force.com for platform-as-a-service, and Google Apps for software-as-a-service, companies large and small now have enough options to run their entire business in the cloud. And there’s a new crop of enterprise software solutions like Box, Jive and Yammer that are leveraging the scalability and real-time capabilities of the cloud to tackle massive information and collaboration challenges, giving enterprises a holistic view of content and conversations within their business.
3 -- Don’t be Afraid to Experiment.
We’ve all heard stories about six-or-seven-figure technology purchases that never got off the ground or were only implemented narrowly, so it’s no surprise that businesses tend to move slowly and carefully when deploying technologies to solve their information management challenges. But the enterprise licenses, year-long deployments, and third party consultants that are common to traditional software deployments are time and resource-intensive, and don’t guarantee the technology will solve the problems it is meant to address. Cloud solutions are more cost effective on a per-user basis, go live faster, update seamlessly and frequently, and carry far less risk with implementation and execution. Innovate IT departments are taking advantage of these attributes to pilot new technologies like cloud content management in departments or project teams (or looking at technologies these groups have already deployed themselves), and then implementing them across the organization if proven successful.
4 -- Think beyond the Firewall.
Today’s workplace has exploded beyond the office walls, and the firewall meant to protect and control information has ironically become a security liability. Workers need to share and collaborate with vendors, partners and customers, and if their given software is too restrictive, web-based tools outside the IT department’s purview are only a few clicks away. In order to be successful, any information management strategy needs to incorporate tools and policies that enable employees to get their jobs done. By recognizing the need for external collaboration and deploying web-based technologies that are flexible, easy to use, and facilitate sharing beyond the firewall, IT leaders will have far better visibility into how information is being shared within and beyond their organizations.
5 -- Social does not mean Facebook.
Your strategy needs to deal with more than just information management and storage—it also needs to make sure that the right information is connected to the right people in real-time, and also enable end user collaboration around that content. This is where social comes in. Workflow and collaboration tools should be seamlessly integrated with the systems used to store and manage content. We’re seeing this trend emerge in the enterprise content management sector, as SharePoint 2010 adds social features to its platform and Box brings social intelligence to users through a real-time, content-centric newsfeed. Making social and collaboration capabilities an integral, integrated part of your information management strategy will only become more essential as the amount of information within organizations continues to grow.
6 -- Make Mobile a Priority.
We are closer to the promise of a “mobile workforce” than ever before. We have near-ubiquitous internet access, a broad array of sophisticated mobile devices, and extensible, cloud-based software. Companies that make mobile an integral part of their information management strategy will see a more productive, more collaborative workforce; companies that don’t take mobile into account will handcuff their employees and open themselves to security risks when employees try to find workarounds. By deploying software solutions that extend securely to mobile platforms, you’ll empower your employees to share and engage with information on-the-go and better realize the benefits of real-time, cross-organizational and cross-geographical collaboration.
7 -- Your Services Should Talk to Each Other.
Information is infinitely more valuable when it is accessible across relevant platforms. Integrations with on-premise solutions have traditionally been time consuming, complex, and handled by third-party experts. Today, businesses can take advantage of solutions that have out-of-the-box integrations or open APIs that enable easy connections between platforms. As cloud-based content management solutions become more prevalent, we’ll see the industry move towards openness, where rich, open APIs enable easy integrations with other systems, and standards like CMIS promote data migration and facilitate better sharing of information between platforms.
8 -- Hold your Technology to High Standards.
At the end of the day, the technology you deploy to manage your business information should make your company more competitive and your employees happier and more productive. Over the past few decades, we’ve developed dangerously low expectations, shrugging off excessive downtime, cumbersome updates and complexity as typical. Fortunately, there is a new breed of software companies that are tackling businesses’ massive information and collaboration challenges in new ways, leveraging the cloud to deliver services that are powerful, scalable, and as intuitive as consumer technologies. Take an honest inventory of the technology solutions you’re using today, and if they’re creating more problems than they solve, it’s time to explore alternatives.
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Aaron Levie is the CEO and co-founder of Box.net, which he launched in 2005 with the goal of helping people to access, collaborate, and share all their content online. Based in Palo Alto, Box.net has since grown into a leading Cloud Content Management solution for almost 4 million users and companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies. At Box, Aaron focuses on product and platform strategy, incorporating the best of traditional content management with the most effective elements of social business software.
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