Are we ready for a true paperless society?

Do you think technology is at the point where we can eliminate paper from our standard business process(es) and activities?

I recently had an experience with a company that claims to have done just that - moved entirely away from paper communications with its customers and now relies solely upon email for that correspondance.

Sounds good, and in principle should be a means for cutting some cost (not to mention the number of trees you can save)... That is, until you have a challenge.

Last year, I had a need to store some digital content in a location that I could access via the internet from any location. At the time, I didn't have a good, reliable solution in-house so I started looking at online storage solutions.

In my search for a solution, I ran across XDrive that, as fortune would have it, was offering a special deal to test drive their service for 30 days before you were actually billed for the service ($9.95 per month). And... one could cancel the service at any time in that 30 day window and never be charged.

Of course, I figured I could take advantage of this offer by using and cancelling the service before the end of 30 days. The one thing that bothered me slightly was that I had to provide a credit card number to activate the service. I figured that I would be able to handle the situation though and I signed up.

I used the service over a 2 day period with great success. Then, I went to the website to cancel and could not find ANY indication of HOW to cancel the service. So, I wrote an email to their support group indicating that my account should be cancelled. I forgot about it until I got an email from XDrive about 3 weeks later indicating that I needed to cancel my subscription through their telephone support system, not through their email support group.

So I called the telephone support group, miffed that I was now past the 30 day grace period of the offer. I asked for the service be terminated and that I be credited for the 1st month since I was unable to find the appropriate process for cancellation on their website and because their email support organization could not "tell" their phone support organization that I wanted to have the service terminated.

The support tech I spoke with was courteous and friendly. I was assured that all would be handled, so I thought no more about it.

Three months later my wife came to me with our credit card bill and asked what the XDrive charges were for. It had been several months since I called the phone support desk to cancel and so I could not find the phone number (and it wasn't on the website). So, I asked the credit card company to refute the charges.

All seemed to go away until 3 more months later when I got a letter from XDrive indicating that there was a computer glitch in their system and all accounts had been tripled-billed. The letter assured all its customers that the problem had been fixed and their accounts credited, but my account had magically been re-activated.

I called the credit card company again to refute the charges and I got a phone number from the credit card copmany for XDrive support. I called the support desk AGAIN and asked that the service be cancelled, my account be credited for the past months charges, and that I get a confirmation that the transaction had been completed. I was given a confirmation number, told I would receive a confirmation email, and I felt satisfied that I had done my job as a conscientious consumer.

This past week, my wife brought me the credit card statement and sure enough there was an XDrive charge. I called XDrive again, livid that I cannot get this company to stop charging my credit card for a service I no longer wanted and only once ever used. When I got through to a support desk tech, I politely asked for a supervisor right away.

Here is where the story gets interesting and made me wonder if we are really ready for a paperless business environment.

After much wrangling over how my account had been handled, we got to the point where the supervisor told me the account had finally been cancelled, gave me another confirmation number, and suggested that all was well and that I'd receive a confirmation email shortly for my records.

I informed him that this was exactly what I had been told the previous encounter with his company and I asked that I be sent a certified confirmation letter since the process had failed the previous time. The supervisor told me that he "could not do that", that his company only handled business via email. He suggested that I go look in my inbox and that he was sure I'd find the confirmation email.

I did just that while still on the phone, and lo and behold, no email... I told him it had not arrived and that I was not confident this process would work since it had not worked the first time and appeared to still not be working. Again the supervisor refused to send me a snail-mail confirmation letter.

I suggested that maybe there was something wrong with my email address and that he and I should review it and update it if necessary. He politely informed me that he could not do that either. Then he hung up on me. I called back and went over the same issues and he hung up on me again.

To date, no email has arrived. I am uncertain if the account has been closed. What do I do if I get charged again next month? How can a business that charges a consumer's credit card without the consumer's permission get away with that?

In my opinion, these charges are theft. I have notified the company's only representatives I can contact and I have told them in no uncertain terms that I do not want their service.

So, how do we as IT professionals handle a circumstance like this from a technical perspective? With the business constraint that no paper mail will be sent to customers, how can a business ensure that important communications are delivered, in this case, via email?

Well, it can't. The email delivery process has many places where it can fail and none of the exising protocols guarantees email delivery. In fact, with the rise of spammers and other forms of email exploits, email has an even higher chance of being rejected. And, there are no other alternatives to employ at this point.

So, I don't think we're collectively ready to switch business processes to rely completely upon our technologies such as email to create the paperless business. In my opinion, it is only a matter of time until we see legal proceedings calling into question business practices such as the one I encountered (and could possibly still be dealing with, ugh...).

What's your take?

You heard it here! - Y2K has a new name - DST

Our senior architects Bill Berger and Garry Winningham have this amazing knack for keeping their finger on the pulse of "technology happenings." Bill pointed out this article about how Daylight Savings Time in 2007 is going to cause some amount of maintenance in your IT systems. They have provided this article as a start up for you to get an idea of what is happening, but they have been really been discussing it in more detail off line. If you want a chance to tap their minds on what this might really mean to you, please contact them through this blog.

November Newsletter - Simplifying Content Management

I was so energized by all the content management talk at the conference, I decided to write an article about it in my monthly newsletter.

The newsletter is not just technical stuff, it has links to interesting world events that are not mainstream, for example why Japanese women are wary to marry these days.

You can also see some current events like conferences or conference calls that I think you will find valuable.

If you ever find this blog and read my articles and have some comments please don't hesitate to write.

Content Management - 10 Steps to take into consideration

Hello all,
I'm sure some of you have given up on me, wondering if I am going to post anything to the blog or not. It's been really busy out here lately. The application I am working on is not a very stable one and we are constantly stepping two steps forward and one backward. Its tough to get caught up in that situation.
I did promise my presentation copy from Vancouver and it is linked in the title.
I learned some interesting things at the conference. Library Sciences professionals are really cool folks. I should know, I have worked with some for many years.
When we did the content management study at APQC a few years ago, best practice organizations had all involved their librarians as taxonomists, they included them in creating the taxonomy for managing their content. That's one of their critical success factors.
At the conference however, the librarians are not yet seeing themselves in that light. They are not playing a role in classifying the content and creating taxonomies mainly because the business has not yet realized that they can.
This conference was therefore an awareness building session to make them aware of the potential of content management in their careers.
I met some really wonderful people, some of whom I am sure I will keep in touch with for a long time and get to meet again.
Vancouver, of course is an incredibly beautiful little town. I spent a lot of time walking the streets and the sea walk and the island and had a great time.
My most memorable moment however was my trip to the Lush store. Its a bath and body soaps and shampoos store that is built like a deli because all the products are made from fresh ingredients. It was sooooo cooool. A complete delight to the senses. It will break your wallet though, but the experience was worth it.

No Worries Mate and Skinny Flat Whites

Unbelievable, its been a month since I last blogged. Of course if you read this article you will know why. I've been out and about. I spent a week in Australia, a week in the New Zealand North Island and got back on the 18th. Then I got hit by jet lag like I have never been before. Incredible - am I getting older and therefore my body just can't keep up with jet lag or is it really worse than going to India. I was in India last year and I can't remember when it took me so long to come around.
If you recall my last posting on "entering the process" I am happy to announce that I have now been assimilated into the Borg in this major organization that I have the privelege to be part of.
In fact part of the reason I was not able to keep up with my postings was because I was too much a part of the process and spent many countless hours waiting and testing and talking to my customer and waiting and testing and.. you get the picture.
the article in the title link is part of a newsletter that I e-mail every month. You can find the latest copy here.
I will post pictures of my trip if I can figure out how to. Next week I go to speak at a Regional SLA conference in Vancover. Will keep you'll posted on the trip and send out a link to the presentation.
Stay tuned on more about my experiences at my current place.

Entering the process

An important observation for me today is the process centricity here. I think it's amazing and probably very essential to be process centric in order to have some control over the chaos that could be if there were no process. In large organizations, so many people are doing so many different things that if the structure was weak, it's likely that everything would come crashing down.

In smaller organizations breaks in the system, breaks in the process have a chance of being noticed and caught before anything major happens. In larger organizations because of the sheer numbers of people the chances of deliquents who by pass the process being caught are fairly small and one might never see the act but will surely feel the impact.

I understand the importance of the process but it's still difficult to be caught in it and to have patience while the process is working. By that I mean things like waiting for a building card, or an official computer. I know they have hundreds of requests but of course I think mine is more important.

Having said that, I totally understand the term entering the process, it's what I have just done and the saving grace is that my team mates are extremely understanding and accepting of the fact that it just takes time to ramp up and get going. But of course i want to "hit the ground running."

Working for a large organization

I have throughout my career always worked for a small company. I have consulted with large companies many a time but have not stayed for a long term project and therefore have not been exposed to the many nuances of working for a large organization.
It would seem to me that it would be easy to get lost in a large organization. With so many people doing so many things a sub par performer can get lost easily because there is always someone else to pick up the slack.

Where I come from, both at APQC and Xpediant you are always in the forefront in terms of performance. In smaller organizations "not working" is not an option; there are so few people that it's easy to spot a slacker (for the most part of course).
So now I am here in a larger organization and I realize that I am not entirely correct about my assumption of being able to hide in a large organization.

Although it is only my first day here I find that large organizations are made of small groups. So at a high level it may be business units but they are too large, in a business unit you have functions, within functions you have processes or teams, so even though the organization as a whole is large, your exposure to the team and their expectations of you is the same as working in a small organization.
I am not making any absolute statements of large and small organziations or work behavior, just expressing my opinion based on observation.
I will continue to write about the nuances of working for a large company and point out the similarities and differences. If you have thoughts please feel free to share them with me.

Wanted Java Programmers

We are a national provider of comprehensive BPM, portal, content management and collaboration solutions. With strong expertise in Java technologies, we deliver scalable applications and implement technology solutions that are right for the customer.
We are looking for dynamic, personable, articulate Java developers with proven application development experience.
Prior to interview, technical abilities will be assessed with a technical interview and coding exam. CANDIDATES WITHOUT min of 2 yrs of JAVA experience NEED NOT APPLY.
Travel is required. Must have a valid U.S. Driver's License. Contract opportunities only at this point; full-time can be discussed at a later date. This opportunity is NOT location-specific.

REQUIRED Skill set:
1. MINIMUM of 2 years of Java experience and related technologies and tools.
2. Proven experience with content management or portal frameworks a plus
3. Demonstrate and leverage proven experience with full lifecycle software project implementations.
4. Interface with clients and teammates in professional manner and manage time effectively.
5. Experience with other business process or automated workflow products is a plus.
6. Previous consulting experience a plus.
Please contact me through this blog id you are interested.

What is a Leader?

We've always heard people say "who" is a leader? This article explains in very simple language "what" makes a leader. I have always maintained that management is an art not a science. Whether you are a leader or a manager or good at both, you have to have certain characteristics that make you a leader and make other people want to follow you. Do you have any thoughts on leadership? Please share them with us. You can read the article here.

Chatterbacking - A new marketing term

Very interesting write up. It amazes me that "we" never fail to come up with catchy terms for everything. "Chatterbacking" huh! I guess that's a marketers job. To keep refreshing old concepts with new twists.

I wanted to comment on the last few questions in the article. I think trust is essential in anything. Marketing, working, relationships, etc. Doesn't matter.

You have to allow the consumer to decide whether they want to read something sponsored by or written by a company that has a sales twist. Print magazines have always marked the word "advertisement" on their sponsored content whether it's a one pager or a booklet. Does that mean I dont read it? No, if it catches my eye I will read it. I will be a bit skeptical about its claims but if I like what I read I will investigate other sources for credibility. So what I am saying is if your content is well written then there should be no hesitation to mark it as sponsored. In fact being honest has a lot more potential for believability than being duped into thinking something is not sponsored and finding out later that it was. Then you have completely lost your customer forever.

Information Technology or Business Technology

I read this post by George Colony of Forrester where he talks about renaming IT to BT because the use of technology has changed from monitoring a business to running a business. You can read his post here.
Reading this post got me thinking about this whole concept of naming and renaming. The retail product industry does it all the time. They rename their brands, change an ingredient or two and release a new product with a new name. Apparently the reasoning behind this is that we like variety and we like newness so we are more apt to buy products as they "change" than if they look the same forever.Even Coca-Cola attempts new looks every once in a while. A new bottle, a new label, whatever.
So maybe its ok for us to change the term from Information Technology to Business Technology. Maybe a name change will get us the exposure we need with management, maybe changing the name from information to business will help employees understand that the IT department is not akin to Gestapo, its there to work with the employees, to make their lives easier and more productive. What do you think?

The X-Team Files - August 2006

Click here to view Xpediant's monthly newsletter. Please feel free to forward to anyone you think might be interested.

We cover a wide range of issues from business processes, information technology implementation, and collaboration to world issues. This month's focus in on acronyms used by technology vendors such as HRIS, PLM, SCM, CRM, etc.

Complimentary Genius

An excellent article that talks about a different path to innovation. Look for products that compliment your products, look outside the box. I will try this excercise for Xpediant Solutions, will let you know if I come across any ideas. You can click on the title link or read the article here.

Cultivational Culture

It still amazes me how well the Internet works on educating me about things I don't know, I don't know. Now thats not a typo. When we are looking for something we search for it, but the real discovery is when we come across terms or concepts or ideas that we were not looking for but we can use in our daily lives or to understand certain phenomena. This leads me to the real reason for this post. I was reading through the Intelligent Enterprise newsletter and read a brief article called It Takes Two to Tango which talks about the relationship between project selection and value to the business or basically the impact of IT projects on the business. While reading this article I came across the term cultivational culture and it intrigued me, so I googled it and came upon this article titled "Why Good Management Ideas Fail" and while reading it I learned that organizations have four types of cultures. Control, collaboration,competence, and cultivation. So a cultivational culture as the name suggests is one that arises based on the collective beliefs of an organization. All cultures hamper or promote change in some way or the other. In a cultivational culture a process change may be viewed as a slap on the face to the employees of the organization as if insinuating that the process they had in place all along was wrong. Approaching change in such a culture would be very different than a control culture where all changes are likely pushed downward strongly and the organization has a no questions asked mentality. From all my past research on knowledge management and change management I am really glad to see more of us looking at organizations as living, breathing organisms and not as concrete structures. I hope this article (linked in the title) gives you some ideas on how to deal with change in your organization based on its culture or combination of cultures.

Portlets: The Magic Behind Portals

You've heard of portals in the science fiction world. Gateways that take you to another world or another dimension. Well, portals in the technology world are similar. They may not take you to another dimension but they do take you to the land of integrated information which in some cases can be a magical feat to pull off. This article is written in simple terms to help unravel the mysteries behind portals and portlets. Click here to read the article.

Management by Procrastination

I wonder if John Brandt is a nom de plume for Scott Adams? What Adams' cartoon Dilbert says in comic strip form, Brandt articulates succinctly in paragraphs. Do you feel like your organization manages by procrastination or rather by passing the buck? Read this article to understand the Gravity Fed Decision Model that prevails in so many organizations today. Click here to read the article.

Do you Firefox or do you IE?

Intelligent Enterprise recently reviewed the changes to Firefox Beta 2 versus IE 7.0.
You can read the details here.

Footloose and Fancy Free - looking for a job?

If you are not in the city of your choice and looking for a change in both locale and employment, this article is for you. Forbes.com released its top 100 cities to find a job in. In first place is my favorite, Washington, DC. Click here to read the full article.

The Development Abstraction Layer

I wasn't sure I wanted to read this article at first. I am not a developer and I thought..."I know nothing of development abstraction and I probably won't understand a word." But being me I had to give it a try. What a surprise. The article is written in colloquial language and explains with lots of great analogies how one can make software developers successful in an organization. You can read it here. Please feel free to comment on it.

Seven Deadly Sins of Knowledge Sharing

I am part of a listserv for knowledge management and Matthew Moore a frequent contributor to the list and I am sure brilliant human being came up with this list that I wanted to share with all. With all the attribution to Matthew:

1. Pride
"We don't need to learn from anyone else, our operation is *completely* unique."

2. Envy
"XYZ's KM, CoP, SNA program has just appeared in a news article. We would like one too."

3. Wrath
"I don't want to WASTE time with any planning. Just ****ing do it!!!"

4. Sloth
"I want all you underlings to share what you know. But don't bother me about it."

5. Avarice
"Damn right I want to get organisational benefits. Invest to get them? Never..."

6. Gluttony
"I want a million documents in the database. No! Make that a billion. More is better!"

7. Lust
"I just love messing around with vendors & consultants. Meetings, workshops, everything. Just don't hang around in the morning."