-Lesson1: Key Disrupters in the Enterprise World

Let's start with a little history. Systems of record are the core systems that we put in place during
the 70's, 80's, and 90's to automate the first generation of digital processes. Think of these as the
very initial replacements for paper-based processes. This chart shows the major technology eras
through which we've evolved, from mainframes to mini computers to PC's. During the era of
mainframes, our primary focus was on managing batched transactions. This evolved during the
mini computer era into a focus on managing departmental processes, and in the PC era, the focus
moved to managing documents.
Beginning in the early 2000's, our information systems began to change. Consumer technology
started to be the primary source of innovation, and individual and users became the primary
focus for technology. This era began with the Internet and the task of managing webpages, and
has since evolved into the mobile and Cloud era, with a focus on managing interactions and
conversations. I call these new mobile and Cloud technologies "systems of engagement". These
twin concepts of systems of record and systems of engagement were initially developed by an
AIIM taskforce headed by Geoffrey Moore, the well-known author of "Crossing the Chasm".
His original White Paper is available at AIIM.org/futurehistory. The challenge facing today's
organizations is to determine how to gradually minimize spending on legacy systems of record
while simultaneously taking advantage of new systems of engagement, and not losing control in
the process.

- Information surrounds us.…Documents, emails, videos, podcasts,…voicemails, texts, Tweets,

Facebook posts,…and LinkedIn conversations are the informational…backbone of our personal
and work lives.… se the phrase "information chaos" to describe…this ongoing and accelerating
state of massive…information disruption and our difficulty…in effectively utilizing this
avalanche of data.…Using information to understand and exceed…customer expectations is the
competitive challenge today.… I u
In the face of all this massive change,…employees like Chief Information Officers…are
increasingly under siege.…There is probably no more vulnerable place to be…than CIO in a
modern organization.…One newly appointed CIO told me,…"CIO ought to stand for Career Is
Over,"…and as Bob Dylan would say,…"You better start swimming or you'll sink like a
stone."…Here are some perspectives from contemporary CEOs…about their IT Department and
their company's CIO.…Almost half of CEOs feel IT should be…a commodity service purchased
as needed.…
Only a quarter of executives feel their CIO…

The big bang of enterprise systems

- The collision between systems of record…and systems of engagement has set off…what I like
to call an informational big bang.…Think about what enterprise technology systems…currently
look like.…It's a world where IT acts as a train system,…moving huge volumes of data from A
to B on fixed tracks.…It's a world where IT reduces costs…by substituting people with
technology.…Processes are standardized,…automating simple or repetitive processes.…
Executives are generally oblivious to technology,…and they bolt technology onto existing
business strategies…instead of developing new ones.…
Complexity equals job security.…IT staff pride themselves…on the complexity of their projects.
…Most spending is CAPEX, in other words…projects that can be capitalized…and their costs
stretched out over multiple years.…Mobile and social are differentiators,…and even having a
mobile and social strategy…can at least bring temporary competitive advantage.…And pure
technical skills are valued.…The focus is on development, not on integration.…

- The first of the three disrupters…driving IT transformation is consumerization.…We are in an

era of massive decentralization…of technology resources as the control…and manipulation of
information…moves from the IT Department to individual users.…In "Digital Disruption:
…"Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation",…James McQuivey looks at the four major
factors…necessary for massive disruption.…One, the computer. Two, an internet connection.…
Three, a programming language in SDK.…
And four, a friction-free platform…for distributing and making money.…What this means is that
how we look…at applications in the enterprise,…how we buy enterprise technology,…and how
we deploy enterprise systems,…are all changing simultaneously.…There are more sources of
innovation available…in more places in the world than ever before.…And the era in which
organizations…could exclusively depend on their…internal IT resources as a source…of
competitive advantage is coming to an end.…It wasn't that long ago that complex…enterprise
systems were the exclusive domain…

- Cloud and mobile are the second disrupter…driving IT transformation.…These two

technologies change everything.…They change our expectations of where we can work,…when
we can work, with whom we can work…and on what devices we can work.…It seems like only
yesterday that the iPhone first appeared.…Believe it or not, it's been less than eight years,…a
blink of an eye in technology time.…The iPhone was introduced in June 2007…to fairly
widespread snickering…among serious technology types.…
Blogger Mark Flores had this take on the initial rollout,…"The initial reaction from
competitors ...…was either shock or laughter.…RIM didn't think it was possible to have…such a
device without it being a power hog.…Microsoft's Steve Ballmer laughed at it…for not having a
physical keyboard."…Well, a lot has changed.…We now find ourselves in a world…where there
are more tablets and smartphones sold than PCs.…Where people are more likely to own…a cell
phone than a toothbrush.…Where customers expect to use a mobile device…to interact with
enterprise information and processes.…

Cloud and mobile are the second disrupter…driving IT transformation.…These two technologies
change everything.…They change our expectations of where we can work,…when we can work,
with whom we can work…and on what devices we can work.…It seems like only yesterday that
the iPhone first appeared.…Believe it or not, it's been less than eight years,…a blink of an eye in
technology time.…The iPhone was introduced in June 2007…to fairly widespread snickering…
among serious technology types.…
Blogger Mark Flores had this take on the initial rollout,…"The initial reaction from
competitors ...…was either shock or laughter.…RIM didn't think it was possible to have…such a
device without it being a power hog.…Microsoft's Steve Ballmer laughed at it…for not having a
physical keyboard."…Well, a lot has changed.…We now find ourselves in a world…where there
are more tablets and smartphones sold than PCs.…Where people are more likely to own…a cell
phone than a toothbrush.…Where customers expect to use a mobile device…to interact with
enterprise information and processes.…

Finally, let's look at disrupter number three,…the Internet of Things.…The Internet of Things is
the impact…that sensors and network devices will have…as they allow buildings and
infrastructure…to swap information.…According to International Data Corporation,…there will
be 212 billion connected things…by the end of 2020, all emitting and receiving data.…
Intelligence systems will be installed…and collecting data from all of these things.…IDC
forecasts that this will be…an 8.9 trillion dollar market by 2020.…
According to the Harvard Business Review,…"The Internet of Things has the power…to
profoundly change operations--…that's where much of the coverage…of this burgeoning
network has focused."…"But companies should also be preparing for profound shifts…in their
competitive strategies…as the Internet of Things takes off."…"It will change the category you
compete in,…the products and services you sell,…how you market them, and even the talent you
acquire."…So our three disrupters, Consumerization,…Cloud and Mobile, and the Internet of
Things…

Lesson 2

The effects of information chaos     

 
Exploding volume, variety, and velocity of information

Examples of Mancini's Law and the exploding volume,…variety, and velocity of information are
all around us.…According to a recent global survey…by Tata Consultancy Services,…70
percent of executives viewed digital initiatives…as a seriously important factor…in their
company's success in the next five years.…However, only eight percent say they actually…have
a digital strategy.…Think about security.…Over the past ten years, there have been over 300…
data breaches involving the theft of 100,000…or more records, and that's just for the breaches…
that have been disclosed publicly.…
Gartner analyst Doug Laney has assembled an impressive…list of examples of the volume,
variety, and velocity…of information.…Here are a few.…Walmart deployed semantic search on
their website,…which increased their conversion rate from 10 percent…to 15 percent, generating
significant new revenue.…The supermarket chain Tesco collected 70 million…refrigerator-
related data points coming off its units…and fed them into a dedicated data warehouse.…
- The third building block in building a strategy…for digital transformation is engagement.…
How can your organization use information…to better engage customers and employees?…In
this new world of rapidly changing…information technologies, our ability to engage…is the key
to success.…If you're not fully engaging your customers,…your partners and your employees,…
your business is probably falling behind the competition.…You can no longer assume that
engagement…will happen serendipitously in your organization.…You need to think strategically
about…the information systems that are necessary…to make it happen.…
According to Gallup, in Average Organizations,…33% of workers are engaged in their jobs,…
49% are not engaged…and 18% are actively disengaged.…On the other hand, in World-Class
Organizations,…the numbers are vastly different.…67% of workers are engaged in their jobs,…
26% are not engaged…and only 7% are actively disengaged.…Unfortunately, most
organizations still look…like the fictional company Dunder Mifflin…in the show "The
Office."…
- The second building block in building a strategy…for digital transformation is process
automation.…How should your organization transform and automate…its information-intensive
business processes?…The walls that used to exist between your customers…and all those messy,
back-office business operations…are being torn down by social technologies.…Organizations
can no longer hide the weakness…in their processes.…The next five years will witness a
massive reinvention…of business processes.…If the first wave of automation was…all about
digitizing existing processes,…the next wave will be much more radical…and involve the actual
reinvention of processes…from the ground up.…
AIM data suggests that organizations still have a…significant gap between what their customers
see,…their external-facing systems of engagement,…and how business actually gets done,…
their core back-end systems of record.…Organizations understand that they have to automate,…
and they need to expose their back-end processes…to the light.…68% of organizations agree that
business…
- The current conventional focus is all about…the technology plumbing we need to put in
place…to manage the looming chaos.…Traditionally, IT has been more about the T than the I.…
Technology staffs have focused and have been valued…on the deployment of massive
enterprise…software applications, seemingly the more…complicated, the better, and maintaining
the plumbing…of our information infrastructures.…Even at the highest levels, most CIOs have
not really…focused on the I part of their job title,…and part of the frustration that the CEO
has…with the CIO is that many CIOs have been…more focused on deploying technology…than
on optimizing information assets.…
However, digital transformation is ultimately more…than just data and technology.…This
narrow view is a recipe for unfulfilling…and suboptimal returns from…digital transformation
initiatives.…In order to drive digital transformation,…organizations need IT staffs with broader
skills.…Specifically, they need executives who understand…the I part of the IT value
proposition.…
The new job of information professional…can have a number of roles within the organization.…
Few people currently have information professional…as a title, but many have the stewardship,
…management, and application of information assets…as a core part of their job.…Information
professionals can be found…within the legal, records, and library staff…of organizations, they
can be found among…information architects and managers whose primary focus…is
governance, they can be process owners,…business analysts, and knowledge managers.…All of
whom need to have an effective information…management as a core part of their skillset,…or
they can be the new wave of information curators…and community managers who currently
focus…primarily on social systems.…
And that's the point.…At the early stages of a new profession,…particularly one that cuts
across…and encompasses a wide variety of technical disciplines,…it is difficult to define where
the role begins…and where it ends.…Consider just one profession that is…very well-defined
today, project management.…

- So in conclusion, let's recap the requirements for success…in the new era of digital
transformation.…One, organizations are being disrupted…by the combination of
Consumerization, Cloud and Mobile,…and the Internet of Things.…Two, this creates enormous
opportunities…to rethink your business,…but it also creates enormous risks of information
chaos.…Three, in order to address information chaos,…organizations need to focus on four key
business problems,…information risk, automating processes,…engaging customers and
employees,…and applying analytics to gain insight.…
Lastly, there is a new skill set needed to capitalize…on the opportunities created by digital
disruption…and avoid the risks of information chaos.…IT has traditionally focused on…the T
part of their job, technology,…but the new information professional will focus much more…on
the I, information, and harness this resource…to meet the challenge of digital transformation.…