iDatix

iNSIDER Perspective: Too Much Work and Not Enough Staff

iNSIDER: Bill Kennedy — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:50:17 +0000

Downsizing, right-sizing, layoff, restructuring, whatever word you use, accounting departments have been consistently trimming staff for decades.

Computers are taking on more and more of the daily routine.

While this is good news for cost control and efficiency, it’s not so good for accounting controls and segregation of duties.

Where you used to be able to separate incompatible functions between different staff, now there may now be only one person available.

The Controls Environment

The Sarbanes-Oxely Act (affectionately known as “SOX”) enacted in 2002, was legislation designed to reassure the investing public in the integrity of financial statements after the accounting scandals of Enron, Tyco and WorldCom.

It imposes some strict requirements on not just the accuracy of financial statements but also the control systems behind them. Those requirements aren’t going away any time soon.

In fact, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics has this to say about accounting clerical positions:

“As the number of organizations increases and financial regulations become stricter, there will be greater demand for these workers to maintain books and provide accounting services.”

So, not only are accounting departments being downsized, but they are also expected to meet increasingly strict requirements.

What are companies to do?

The answer may surprise you.

Most people don’t think you can automate accounting controls, but the right technology can actually prevent employees from short cutting the internal control system and provide an evidence based audit trail that will stand up to outside scrutiny.

And the good thing is that it can be added to an existing system even if that system does not have the feature built in!

The Paper Trail

The basic building block of accounting control is the approved document.

Whether it is a supplier invoice, a customer purchase order or a government document, it follows a pre-set trail through the company’s approval process, depending on how much it is and what it is for.

For example, the purchasing manager may only approve invoices from preauthorized vendors under a certain dollar amount.

Anything from a new vendor or above his limit requires further authorization from a more senior corporate officer.

Workflow systems work on scanned images of the document and email.

The company’s rules are loaded into the software, so it can check if the document is from an approved supplier, as well as knowing the authorization limits of all of the staff.

This automation saves a lot of accounting staff time because they don’t even see the document until it has been properly approved. No more squinting at illegible scrawls wondering if that’s the new division manager’s signature or turning the documents back because they aren’t approved.

The computer takes care of all that work for you.

“He’s in Europe”

One of my first jobs in accounting was for a company with a head office in the United Kingdom.

The Vice President of Finance would let us know when he was going overseas and there would be a scramble to be sure that he had seen everything that needed to be approved.

And when he came back, there would be a stack of papers on his desk for approval.

No large transactions could be processed while he was away.

Now, workflow would really have come in handy. Regardless of where the VP is, processes don’t have to halt; everything can be approved via a computer or even a smart phone at any time, anywhere in the world.

Now, isn’t that nicer than coming home to a stack of papers in your in-box?

You might also like:

A Brief History Of Process – From the Industrial Revolution To Today Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox ECM & Workflow for Accounting

[INFOGRAPHIC] Going Green & Going Paperless

iDatix — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:30:55 +0000

You might also like:

Whitepaper: Saving Dollars & Cutting Carbon The Scoop On Cutting Costs & Going Green The Paperless Office: A Green Way To Do Business

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iNSIDER Perspective: The World of Information Management

iNSIDER: Steve Weissman — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:31:33 +0000

Hello! Samantha McCollough from iDatix here and today I am joined by Steve Weissman, a consultant at the Holly Group and an information management professional.

Samantha McCollough: Thank you for joining me today Steve. To begin, can you please overview some of the topics that need to be addressed when discussing information management?

Steve Weissman: Sure. One of my favorite subjects, in fact!

For me, so many of these conversations start with the technology. We tend to chunk the world up into BPM and ECM and ERM and all kinds of other M’s, but for me, that’s sort of backwards because it really has to start with the business need.

Pretty much everything that I do and everything that we’ll talk about here I hope, I expect, will be looking to start with an understanding of what the business problem is that you’re trying to solve and then mapping the technology tools into that from there.

You’re really talking about business rooted decisions beyond even the problem set. First you have to determine what you want to do, and how you want to do it, even whether to do it. Investing in new information technology can be painful; can be costly in terms of time and dollars. Maybe it’s possible that you don’t want to do anything or do anything grand right now because you know that there’s something coming down the pipe in terms of a merger or acquisition or new investor or something, so you want to just bide your time.

Of course, there’s a cost to doing nothing, also. It’s sort of the devil that you know, but you’re not getting all the efficiencies that you might get if you just stand pat. So there are tradeoffs.

Do you want to buy something? Do you want to build it yourself if you’re a big shop and have lots of skills? Maybe you want to outsource it.

And whatever the “it” is, it’s going to have some sort of an impact on the way your people work.

So there’s a big component of change management to be talked about as well that has very little directly to do with technology, but more to do with how people react to the technology.

How they embrace or don’t embrace the new ways that they’re going to have to work or the new interfaces they’re going to need to deal with.

I’ve long had this bumper sticker in mind that says, “It’s psychology, not technology.” And certainly in terms of user adoption, it is.

Things like mobility.

The psychology now is such that many people want to use and are using their own personal technology for business purposes. And there are whole rafts of information, and decisions to be made and obtained, about how to manage that. Because if everybody’s using a different smartphone, you’ve got multiple devices, with multiple operating systems, how do you secure them? How do you not drive yourself nuts to make sure they have the latest and greatest software you need them to have?

It’s just like managing a fleet of PC’s, but worse. Because at least in the past, companies bought their own fleets of PCs. And most of them aren’t now buying smartphones for their people.

So, long winded answer, long winded way of saying there’s lots of issues to be talked about that we’re really best served starting in the business context, not the technology. That’s sort of why I’m here.

SM: So how do these issues impact business, what are the reasons that people turn to technology in the first place?

SW: The obvious reasons are efficiencies and cost reduction and all the happy adjectives that we hear so much about at the conferences and read in the trade press.

But again, for me there’s a big element in trying to guard against leaping in feet first without first looking into the water to see what rocks may be there.

Technology is really great, but like anything else, if you use it for the forces of good, you win. If you don’t, you lose. It’s a nod to the Avengers, which opened this past weekend, I guess, speaking of the forces of good.

What often gets lost in the rush to technology or in the hype surrounding technology is that automation for its own sake is rarely a good idea. You may have processes that work largely because you’re used to the way they work and all the little quirks and foibles associated with them.

If you were to automate that, all you’re doing is making those inefficiencies work faster.

And you may well find yourself with even bigger problems because you haven’t addressed the underlying causes of issues, of inefficiencies, of lag between the time one process ends and the next begins.

You may find the whole thing breaks down because now you’re pushing more and more information through that process faster than it can handle it.

So taking that conceptual step back to begin is just so important so you don’t end up automating the chaos, basically. You want to understand what’s broken before you fix it. And I can tell you- and will tell you over the weeks to come- stories of people who have really just done the opposite and really paid the price for it.

SM: Now that we have underlined the importance of the business aspect of information management, let’s go ahead and cover a bit of the technology: BPM, ECM, etc.

SW: You can buy BPM.

You can buy ECM and all the other M’s.

And I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing, but really they’re best considered business practices.

The practice of managing business processes. The practice of managing enterprise content. There are tools to be bought and deployed to facilitate those best practices, and to make them real.

And it’s so important to start with the nature of the business problem you’re trying to solve and figure out the best way for your company, in your industry, in your geography sometimes, because there are different laws around the world that have to be complied with.

What really is the best way for you and your organization to be working?

The little sing song here is what we’re really after is to try to help people work better and work better together.

So there’s a whole process piece to this puzzle as well as a collaboration piece, and of course, the obvious one which I didn’t mention just there, is the economic piece.

Where you have to balance all these three major factors and figure out the practices that are best for you, and then go find the technology that may carry the same label, but find the technology or mixture of technologies that are really going to help you fulfill those best practices and have it come out the way you want it to come out.

SM: Now that you have enlightened us with all of this great information, how about you tell us all a bit about your background and how you came to be so experienced in information management and business?

SW: Oh, yeah. What’s the expression? Sometimes wrong, never in doubt.

No, I’ve been an industry analyst and a consultant in the information management spaces, depending where you want to count from, at least since 1990.

I did start young, that’s true, but it goes all the way back to the first electronic form that I saw. That was 1990, which is one reason I start the counter there.

Because my first reaction to that was, "This is a front end to a database.”

And the electronic forms vendor that I was talking to said, “No, no, no. This is an electronic form.”

And I’m like, “Yeah, but that data your capturing in this form, doesn’t it go somewhere? I mean, your clients are capturing it for some purpose, right?”

And they’re like, “Yeah, maybe.”

So, really early on, it seemed clear to me that all these different technologies that have since emerged separately and then come together, they exist because they’re trying to solve a particular business problem and enable particular business processes. And all of those processes run on the strength of their information.

Looking at it more holistically became one of my watch words right from the get go. I’ve worked in the industry and as a consultant and all those fun things like so many people in this kind of chair do, but that’s been what’s tied it all together. What it’s allowed me to do with my clients is not to have to redefine the world every time a new technology revolution comes along.

Because the interesting and sad truth is, our business processes are largely our businesses processes, and they haven’t changed that much going back even centuries. But the tools, of course, are dramatically different.

So understanding and staying true to the business problem allows you to view all the new cool stuff through the proper lens, which is, “What’s this going to do for me,” instead of looking at it going, “Oh, something shiny. Let’s chase it.”

So I speak. I write. I run training classes. I actually created the videos that are online through the AIIM International Association website for their new certification program. I mean, I’m all over this stuff.

Nothing makes me happier then to see people do this well and do this right. In a previous consulting life, I ran an awards program that ran for fully ten years, because it was just too cool not to take note of what people were doing.

So I’m thrilled to be able to talk to you today and to the listeners going forward and help them get as much value as they can out of their information and the systems that they’re putting in for that purpose.

SM: One last thing Steve, you have been emphasizing the importance of looking at your business needs first, and the technology second. Clearly, organizations need to be looking into their specific wants and needs prior to selecting any particular solution, yes?

SW: Well here’s the perspective check. We do that much when we buy refrigerators or microwave ovens, because you don’t go in the store and look at a microwave oven and buy it because it’s red or green.

But you’re there for some reason-because you need it to be a certain size, a certain power. With a fridge, do you want the in door water or not, and that’s a function of the process of quenching your family’s thirst.

It sounds really silly, but if you’re going to do it for a $500, $600, $800 refrigerator, why wouldn’t you do it for a multiple tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of information system. It just doesn’t make sense to me to do it any other way.

And so, when you look at it that way, it’s like, “Yeah.”

So that’s why I’m here. I want people to understand, “Yeah.”

SM: Thank you very much Steve, we clearly have a lot to cover! I am excited about sharing the secrets of these topics with our audience.
Coming up, I know you plan on covering “why doing nothing can cost you everything”, a topic I can’t wait to hear you discuss.

SW: Thank you!

Be sure to join us in the coming weeks as Steve Weissman covers topics such as “why doing nothing can cost you everything”, “Defining Processes; don’t just make an electronic version of the same bad process” and “how to get buy-in”.

You might also like:

A Brief History Of Process – From the Industrial Revolution To Today Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox ECM…who actually uses this stuff?

Weekend Catch Up

Samantha McCollough — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:37:51 +0000

A mash up of the humorous, interesting, insightful and sometimes just strange interweb occurrences that you probably missed to catch up on this weekend.

“If you are not making the progress that you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals are not clearly defined.”

Paul J Meyer

Now, on to the links!

It’s not your imagination; iPads are content magnets

by Ron Miller @ Fierce Content Management

The iPad remains the preeminent media consumption device and as such, your company needs to include it in your content delivery strategy.

10 Predictions for What the CIO Role Will Look Like in 2020

By John Brandon @ CIO.com

CIOs can expect their jobs to change dramatically by the end of the decade. Expect an increased role in everything from business planning and cybersecurity to robot management and, of course, the cloud.

The Psychology Behind Employee Productivity

by Andrianes Pinantoan

Environmental scientists who study the way we work best have long said that our external space greatly impacts our ability to be productive. Give us what we need as human beings and most people will be far more effective and efficient at their jobs.

Connect Business Problem Analysis to Change Management by Leaving No People Behind

by Steve Weissman @ AIIM

There is a connection between analyzing your business problems and engaging in change management. Though on the surface these appear to be two completely separate exercises, I believe that your ultimate success depends upon inviting the people who will be affected by the change to participate in the initial articulation of those business problems.

Is the gap between business and IT shrinking?

By Peter Schooff @ eBizQ Forum

A subject that comes up routinely on the Forum (but hasn’t in some time), and is a subject I believe is critical to the future of both business and IT: Do you see the gap between business and IT shrinking?

What were your favorite stories of the week?

Tweet #WeekendCatchUp

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iNSIDER Perspective: Your HR Processes Stink, and You Know It

iNSIDER: Tim Sackett — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:55:08 +0000

We love processes in HR!

And I mean love…

L-O-V-E.

You know why?

It’s not because we want to run our HR shop better, or help our organization, or any other lame reason you’ll come up with to justify why it takes me 23 steps to change my address on my paycheck.

HR loves processes because they cover our ‘you-know-whats’ when stuff goes wrong! CYA at its finest!

The biggest problem with our HR processes isn’t that they stink. It’s that they stink, and we know they stink, and yet we don’t do anything about it!

How do you know they stink?

That’s easy – are people in your organization complaining about HR processes? If yes – they stink! Period.

If no – you’re probably doing a pretty good job designing something that gets what you need, and the organization can buy into what it needs to do to meet the process requirement.

Stop!

Before you start hating – let me explain.

Our job in HR is not protect our organizations of all risk. Our job in HR is to advise our organizations of risk. Leadership will then make calculated decisions on how much risk the organization is willing to take on.

Too many HR Pros don’t understand this and try to design HR processes that eliminate all risk (which is impossible – but don’t tell your HR Mgr that!). The processes become so cumbersome that it actually hurts the productivity of the organization – which leads to non-HR folks complaining about HR.

There’s a better way.

(There has to be, right?)

Designing HR processes can be very simple – that doesn’t make it easy – just simple. Think of the end in mind, first.

What is the final thing we need done?

Let’s say its “Hiring Great Talent”.

Cool – now what do you need to do to get great talent? There’s a ton of stuff, right? Don’t start with what does “HR” need in the talent equation – start with what does the “organization” need. This helps guide your process to one that the organization will want to do, not one it’s being told to do.

I love having Operations tell me the process they want – then I come back to them with a process design that fits exactly what they described, and then explain the “HRish” parts around it they we legally have to do. Both sides feel like they got what they want – buy-in is simple and getting them to follow through is much easier.

I have never bought into the philosophy “well, people are going to complain or hate the new process just because it’s change”.

That is HR making an excuse for a process that stinks.

Is change difficult? Yes. Does it cause people to complain and say bad things about your department? Not usually!
If it’s designed by the organization, communicated throughout the design, and supported by leadership – there shouldn’t be anyone “hating” HR for their processes.

You might also like:

The Most Outrageous HR Mistake You’ll Ever Make… & How to Correct It Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox Top 5 Revelations of the AIIM Process Revolution Report

iNSIDER Perspective: Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox

iNSIDER: Pam Baker — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:50:13 +0000

Why Company Employees Won’t Let Go of Paper and Adopt Automation

The spoils go to the competitor that best leverages data.

Not to the company with the most data and not to the one with the highest quality data, but to the competitor that can effectively use all its data.

To that end, many in IT have gone to great lengths to automate and mine information using BPM, ECM, ERP, CRM, BI and other technological advances. Yet mounds of company data have escaped those systems, nestled on paper and tucked away in banks of file cabinets far beyond the reach of any software.

No matter how diligent your efforts, as long as the majority of company data remains on paper you cannot triumph in the end.

Few would contest this fact yet inevitably many people within any given organization still cling to paper.

The Paperless Fight

A recent study by AIIM Market Intelligence titled Process Revolution found that “despite the acknowledged benefits, a third of small and mid-sized companies and 22% of the largest have yet to adopt any paper-free processes. Over half report that 10% or less of the processes that could be paper-free have so far been addressed.”

The report cites the prevailing reason for data still residing on paper as lack of management mandates and the second most common to be staff fear, primarily concerning the reliability of digital files.

The lack of management mandates can usually be attributed to a focus on issues perceived to be more immediate.

Such a conclusion on management’s part is in error, however, since data availability and reliability is an urgent issue given that all company strategies are based on available data.

If only 10% of the processes that could be paper-free have been automated, then the company strategy is missing 90% of the available information.

That’s like planning a long distance trip but using GPS only to plot the route from your garage door to the end of the driveway.

Justified Fears

Staff fears, however, are not so delusional.

Indeed, a certain amount of training has occurred that actually makes them scared to release their grip on paper.

Take online banking, for example. Most banks cache only 18 months worth of statements online. Any employee who has ever used online banking and needed anything older either discovered the data unavailable or the cost of retrieval to be exorbitant. That’s terrifying when you think the IRS can conduct an audit going back seven years!

Closer to home, most employees have experienced lost or damaged files on their home computer. Some have encountered that at work as well. Most are also aware of the dangers of malware and hacking and may even have experienced such first hand.

In essence, they have been trained, albeit unintentionally, not to trust computers or digital files. Yet their jobs require having the data available for a number of reasons ranging from compliance to project execution. Failing to do so can put one in the unemployment line.

Is it any wonder then that they feel comforted by paper in hand?

The Effects of Mobile

Mobile bottlenecks are further complicating the paper issue.

The AIIM report found that “whilst two-thirds acknowledge the importance, over three-quarters have made no progress towards mobile-enabling their business processes. 20% have sound security reasons, 32% have evaluated but not made a move, and 24% haven’t even thought about it.”

This deer-in-the-headlights position on mobile actually encourages employees to make paper files to carry with them or to do something even worse.

“Employees, and even IT departments, often try rather creative methods to access the files they need to do their jobs, for example using third party storage systems, like Dropbox, have become an option, but that’s typically considered a huge security violation by most enterprises,” said Anders Lofgren, vice president of product management at GroupLogic. “Worse yet, some even resort to emailing private corporate files to themselves as a way to get around not having direct access to them on their [mobile device].”

This creates data spread which becomes a huge and uncontrolled problem that lies well outside of your automated processes. And it’s time to rein it in before matters get worse.

Here are real world ways IT can get management and employees to move data off of paper and into your digital systems:

1) Plot the mandates

Don’t wait on department heads and company bigwigs to notice the bulging file cabinets and take action. They’ve been walking past them for years and no longer consciously note their existence (or else the cabinets are stored out of sight and thus out of mind).

After IT has determined which processes are to be converted to paper-free for maximum company benefit, meet with C-level management and seek firm commitments on actions and dates. This way you’ll have backup if and when you need it to push department heads along.

Then meet with each department head and get them to commit to a specific deadline as to when they will have all the paper scanned or will turn it over to IT for scanning.

Send reminders as necessary to the manager and offer suggestions that will help with the task. Now may be the perfect time to hire temporary help or add interns to aid with the scanning, for example.

Ask department heads often for their feedback on the scanning process and on automating business processes from their perspective. You will be amazed at how adoption rates will climb when people are involved from the beginning.

Also, if you can show how a system alleviates their pain points, rather than adds to them, adoption will rise in a hurry.

2) Ease fears and step the process

Acknowledge employee fears with digital files and address them but avoid any appearance of mere lip service.

Instead, offer small steps that may prove reassuring in a real sense. For example, assure distrustful employees that the paper will continue to be stored for a set amount of time so that if they have problems with the new system, they still have the paper backup.

Educate those that are concerned that only signatures on paper count so they know how to deal with this tricky issue.

Last but not least, devise a means for employees to access their files after hours and while traveling. Once they understand the need to return to the office will be diminished or eliminated if they give up paper and use automated processes, they’ll be more inclined to cooperate.

3) Cut the work into bite-sized chunks

Everyone in every department is overworked and stressed out and the last thing they want to hear from you is a deadline for an overwhelming task they don’t have time to do. Your request alone can demoralize an understaffed department.

Cut the job down to size by bringing in a professional organizer or by providing organizational tips.

For example, suggest that a busy professional scan only a file or two per workday, starting with their own desk, credenza and file cabinets. It may take more time to get everything scanned this way, but compliance will be higher.

The same holds true for asking input on automating processes. Ask department heads and staff to make an electronic diary of quick notes on pain points, must-haves, and wish lists at the end of each day. Then ask them to email you the diary once a week or so. You’ll get more detailed information this way and you’ll get it without overly inconveniencing anyone.

There is one last advantage to getting the files converted from paper to digital and for getting input on processes from department heads.
As CIO, you will know more about the business than anyone else and are therefore well positioned to take an active lead in the company. Promotion just may be in the air for you.

You might also like:

Whitepaper: Consequences of a Failed ECM Implementation The End of the Information Age & The Rise of Knowledge as Power Top 5 Revelations of the AIIM Process Revolution Report

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The Psychology Behind Employee Productivity

Guest Post — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:17:23 +0000

In an ideal world, employers want their employees to be working consistently and productively every single minute that they are on the clock to maximize the gain they get for the money they are spending.

Unfortunately, many employers either don’t seem to know or are unable to provide the other side of that equation for employees – in other words, they don’t offer the best possible environment to get the kind of productivity that they want.

What does this mean?

Well, environmental scientists who study the way we work best have long said that our external space greatly impacts our ability to be productive. Give us what we need as human beings and most people will be far more effective and efficient at their jobs.

In general, the kinds of things that affect us can be broken into four categories: psychological, territorial, physical, and collaborational.

Psychological

The way that individual people work best varies, but most experts agree that our ability to work rests largely on how well we are able to focus.

This may seem like a strange comparison, but if you’ve ever heard a star athlete talk about a great game they had, often they will speak about being “in the zone” or feeling like they were “flowing”.

It’s not just athletes that can experience this phenomenon. Musicians, actors, writers, and other artists have mentioned it, and all of us have the ability to get there.

What they’re talking about is that moment when they are so intensely focused on something that all external activities and distractions fade away. You may lose track of time, even forget to eat because you are so engrossed in your work.

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to “force” flow, but the best way to get closer to it is to minimize distractions.

Distractions come in many forms – surfing the web, turning on the TV, checking our emails. Most of the time when we do these things instead of working, and it is often simply due to habit. If distractions are around and we notice them, their mere presence acts as a trigger to our brains telling us to use them.

Thankfully, this problem has a fairly simple solution: out of sight, out of mind.

When working, turn off or put away your phone. Get away from the TV and game systems. And if you have to use the internet for work – which you most likely will – try dedicating a single browser to work and another to personal use. That way, you won’t be tempted to stray. Concentration is a lot easier to maintain if the temptation just isn’t there.

And you’re not fooling anyone by just pretending you are great at multi-tasking.

Territorial

Some people also call this ‘functional’, because the first part essentially says that the things in your environment all have to have a practical use in allowing you to work on your task. For example, you have a computer that’s powerful enough to handle the job you’re doing, headphones to block out external noise, and a fan that you can use if you get hot. These are all things that function together to make your work experience better.

But it goes beyond this to become territorial because by giving you control over these objects (“I turn the fan on when I want it and off when I don’t”), the space is essentially becoming “your own”.

Why is this important?

Because it gives us a comfort that we don’t have in shared spaces, where anyone might feasibly change anything at any time.

In this way, personalizing a workspace can be quite important, because the extent to which we feel at home may increase the safety that we feel in the space and our perception that it is “ours”.

Functionality dovetails with territoriality when you bring in personal items that are also functional to your job; a water bottle so that you don’t have to constantly refill a tiny styrofoam cup, the one stapler that doesn’t ever seemed to get jammed, even having a plant has been proven to help keep your productive. Having these things at hand provides a sense of home.

When a space is “ours”, even if it is ultimately owned by the company, we are less guarded and our ability to focus on the task at hand increases.

Physical

How good is the lighting in your workspace? What about the temperature? Is it too noisy? Too quiet? Does the design seem open, or make you feel trapped? Is your chair comfortable?

That’s the key word – comfortable. Each of these elements has to feel comfortable to you for you to work at peak efficiency.

Workplaces have improved over the last few decades, but it still seems like two steps forward, one step back.

Open space environments are a great example. Much research has shown that people don’t like to feel closed off and isolated, so there has been a movement to creating larger, airier workspaces where people can remain connected.

Unfortunately, few designers seemed to think about one incredibly detrimental end result – shared open spaces mean shared open noise.

Most people tend to work better with low noise – or none whatsoever. In fact, noise has been shown to reduce productivity substantially due to its ability to lower discipline and willpower, and even cause fatigue. Companies that allow or even provide earplugs or headphones for their employees report sharp increases in productivity.

Even the quality of air has shown to reduce productivity, and dissatisfaction from visitors.

Collaborational

Teams are the new paradigm in many businesses. The thought seems to be that if one person can come up with a good idea, two people – or more – will produce an even better one. Research, however, doesn’t really support this.

It is quite the opposite, in fact, and productivity can be damaged.

Many people seem to be far more productive and creative when they are allowed to work privately and free from interruption.

Why?

Well, one theory is that the collaborational paradigm doesn’t seem to think about introverts, who often have difficulty speaking up in group settings, but excel when allowed to work in solitude

For many of them, being alone is actually the thing that propels them to forward innovative ideas that might otherwise be shot down as too outside the norm when working with others from the beginning.

It also goes back to how psychology affects productivity, because solitary workers are more able focus, rather than getting distracted by social and sexual dynamics that inevitably crop up in group settings.

This isn’t to say that collaboration does not have a role in business.

Some people work better in groups, and even lone geniuses have the ability to “spark” off of other people. The difference is that not everyone needs to have their hand held throughout the entire process, and for some people, this can even hurt their ability to get the work done.

You might also like:

Multi-Taking: Productivity Booster, or Killer? Increase Employee Happiness for Better Business Improving Communication within your Business

Andrianes Pinantoan is part of the team behind Open Colleges, an online courses provider with a great human resources course. When not working, he can be found writing about psychology.

Weekend Catch Up

Samantha McCollough — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:41:35 +0000

A mash up of the humorous, interesting, insightful and sometimes just strange interweb occurrences that you probably missed to catch up on this weekend.

The biggest problem with the term BPM is that so many people saw it as meaning so many different things. This causes unnecessary arguments between experts, like the blind men arguing over the shape of an elephant.

Keith Swenson

Now, on to the links!

Going Paperless Overnight: 8 Steps to a Complete Transition to EHR in an Surgery Center

by Rachel Fields @ Becker’s ASC Review

While the benefits of electronic health records are clear to most ASC administrators, the high cost incurred by most systems scares surgery centers away from implementation. Mary Ann Kelly, administrator of Madison (Ala.) Surgery Center, achieved a return on investment for her EHR within 27 months and says the system has improved quality of care and employee satisfaction without damaging efficiency. Here she discusses eight steps her ASC took to transition from paper records to total EHR use overnight.

Going Green & Going Paperless

An Infographic

“The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous and enduring and thus more intelligent, even competitive.” – Paul Hawken

The End of the Information Age & The Rise of Knowledge as Power

by Pam Baker

The Information Age promised everyone unlimited access to a wealth of information. Indeed it has delivered on that promise to the tune of terabytes of data accessible by anyone with an Internet connection–but it also confused and misinformed many who thought it would bring enlightenment. So how do you bring value to your data and documents without making it overwhelming? Pam Baker explains how in this riveting article on the power of combining business systems.

Information Management Trends

by Lee Smith @ Observing Content Management

I was asked this question in a meeting the other day and to be honest it caught me on the back foot a little, I’ve probably been too close to detail over the past few months to really take a step back and think. The question was ‘What do you see are the current trends or hot topics in the Information Management world?’. Whilst I gave an answer which I believe was acceptable I decided it was time to take a few moments to reflect on what I am seeing in the market.

Social Media: The Key to Immortality

by Bill Larrivee @ AIIM.org

We hear a lot today about how social media is having an impact on our lives. We are now able to share our likes, dislikes, accomplishments and disappointments with friends and family through tools like Facebook that did not even exist until 2004. It is an amazing turn in technology, societal interaction and perhaps even the key to immortality.

What were your favorite stories of the week?

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Organizations Fail to Adopt Mobile Technologies, AIIM Research Finds

Samantha McCollough — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:43:34 +0000

iDatix Sponsors Research on Mobile and Cloud in the Enterprise

AIIM, the leading community of information professionals, announced this week a release of their new report, “Process Revolution – Moving your business from paper to PCs to tablets.” The research uncovers the effects of mobile and cloud technologies in driving organizations to adopt process automation solutions.

iDatix, sponsor of the industry watch paper, anticipated this transition; the company built their content management platform over twelve years ago as a web-based system and was the first in the industry to establish ECM mobile support.

Emerging workplace technology and new ways of doing business are transforming the way that businesses get work done, but it requires a shift in perspective and the ability to adapt. According to the report, the majority of organizations fully realize the benefits the mobile and cloud capabilities have within an organization; the trouble is in adopting the technologies.

According to Steven Allen the CEO of iDatix, “Adoption of business process and case management software yields great returns with minimal risk, but face the greatest resistance within the enterprise. It is a new way of doing things, and most people simply hate change. I still hear prospects say that they dislike reading the screen and want to hold on to the paper; they just need to look in the hands of anyone under 30 to see the future and know that you will get your information and work done on a mobile device.”

The findings consistently demonstrate that organizations are aware of the value cloud and mobile provide but are slow to take advantage of it.

For example, a large majority of companies recognize the improvements in productivity and customer service that can be gained with the aid of these new tools; respondents suggest that administrative staff (52 percent) and field workers ( 45 percent) would be a third more productive, and 45 percent state that customer response times would be drastically improved.

While nearly 70 percent consider mobile functionality to be important in improving their processes, only 24 percent actually have such access to their ECM system.

Delving further into the topic, the report uncovers the primary reasons that paper is still so prevalent.

Nearly half of organizations state that a lack of management initiatives or mandates to reduce paper usage is hindering the move to paperless processes. The need for physical signatures was another top reason for paper usage despite the fact that electronic signatures are commonly accepted and legally binding.

Be sure to review the top 5 revelations from the AIIM report.

About iDatix
iDatix creates intelligent software and solutions that align people, processes and technology. With deeply integrated Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Dynamic Case Management solutions from iDatix, organizations such as Lockheed-Martin, AG First, and Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital have met their business objectives by streamlining their processes and simplifying their workplace.

About AIIM
AIIM has been an advocate and supporter of information professionals for nearly 70 years. The association’s mission is to ensure that information professionals understand the current and future challenges of managing information assets in an era of social, mobile, cloud and big data. Founded in 1943, AIIM builds on a strong heritage of research and member service. Today, AIIM is a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs to information professionals. AIIM represents the entire information management community, with programs and content for practitioners, technology suppliers, integrators and consultants.

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iForms: iDatix Enhanced eForms Offering

Samantha McCollough — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:31:00 +0000

Nick Sampson, Technical Sales Support Specialist

Today I am here with Nick Sampson, Technical Sales Support Specialist here at iDatix, to discuss the enhanced iForms feature now available as part of the iSynergy solution.

Samantha McCollough: Thank you Nick for being here with me today. I know there is a lot of excitement surrounding the enhanced iForms function that is being launched on May 15, and I appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions.

Nick Sampson: My pleasure.

SM: So to begin, who can actually utilize these forms?

NS: The forms can be created for use by anyone, internally or externally. Employees, customers, even a non-ECM system user will have the ability to fill out and submit a form.

SM: We have had a lot of questions regarding the ease of use. How easy is it to both design and then actually use the iForm?

NS: Designing the forms is simple. Anyone with permission to create forms can simply drag and drop the desired field types into the designer space and customize the form to their choosing.

Of course, using the forms is also very simple, if you can fill out a paper form you can fill out an iForm.

SM: You mentioned that each form can be specifically customized for your business.

NS: Yes, of course. You design and create the forms to your exact business needs and specifications. Whether you require an application form for a new hire or a healthcare intake form for incoming patients, the possibilities are really endless.

SM: Are there any specific functions that are particularly unique within iForms?

NS: Yes. As with all of the technology we develop, it was created with simplicity, ease of use and intuitive flexibility in mind. So, the form dynamically adapts to the information being fed into it. Meaning, additional fields or questions can be hidden until a specific criteria is selected.

For example, a patient intake form requires that a gender be chosen. Once a radio button is selected, additional health questions are automatically generated on the form depending on your selection.

SM: I can see why customers are so excited about this new feature.

So, how do these forms fit into the overall business plan? Does it integrate with the existing business systems already in place?

NS: That is where the real power comes in.

The forms will integrate with your document repository, your capture solution, your MRP, Accounting Software or HR system. It can pull data and information from all of your disparate applications and auto-populate specific answers into the form, effectively eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the possibility of errors.

And then once completed, the form will automatically enter the repository, be auto-indexed based on the specific field values and be accessible within the workflow environment.

SM: What are you most excited about with this new iForm offering?

NS: The elimination of paper! Really, the point of entry is now electronic, so it is the final piece to a paperless office.

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A Brief History Of Process – From the Industrial Revolution To Today	Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox	ECM & Workflow for Accounting


Whitepaper: Saving Dollars & Cutting Carbon	The Scoop On Cutting Costs & Going Green	The Paperless Office: A Green Way To Do Business


A Brief History Of Process – From the Industrial Revolution To Today	Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox	ECM…who actually uses this stuff?


The Most Outrageous HR Mistake You’ll Ever Make… & How to Correct It	Battling the Paper Addiction-3 Ways to Help Employees Detox	Top 5 Revelations of the AIIM Process Revolution Report


Whitepaper: Consequences of a Failed ECM Implementation	The End of the Information Age & The Rise of Knowledge as Power	Top 5 Revelations of the AIIM Process Revolution Report


Multi-Taking: Productivity Booster, or Killer?	Increase Employee Happiness for Better Business	Improving Communication within your Business