Month: September 2011

Everything I Need to Know About Organizational Change I Learned in College

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If that title isn’t an arrogant statement, I don’t know what would qualify. I’ve been out of college for almost two decades and I just realized the truth of this statement listening to the Smithsonian’s Michael Edson today. I started to realize it on slide 136 and it crystallized in my brain during the Question and Answer session.

It wasn’t college itself, but my Fraternity experience. The Fraternity was the most political environment I have ever been in during my life and I’m just now realizing how useful it actually was, aside from meeting most of my closest friends to this day.

I’m going to confine myself to examples raised in the talk for this post, but I’ve already thought of related items that I’ve captured for future posts.

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The Unreality of Web 4.0

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Another quick little rant that I’ve been saving up…..

We all love new things. Once the Internet was new and it was fun. We were learning all sorts of things. We had no idea of the potential. I thought, incorrectly, that the Web would become a giant library of linked information (similar to the “semantic” web) but that was it. I underestimated the innovation to come.

Then came eCommerce followed by Web 2.0. Both were innovations as we went from Informational to Transactional and finally to Conversational versions of the Web. Web 2.0 definitely changed how we use the Internet and has provided a means for so many people, like my old relatives, to become regular Internet users.

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Haiku-ing Off to BoxWorks

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image Last month I was offered a chance to attend Box’s “customer” conference, BoxWorks, later this month in San Francisco. After watching the agenda grow more and more interesting, and making sure my work schedule would permit, I finally agreed to accept the offer. One not-so-minor detail, Box was the one offering to pay my way.

I’m not (that) stupid to know that this is purely from the kindness of their collective hearts. While I have used Box when I needed to collaborate on things for AIIM and other efforts, I’m not what you would consider a key client. What I am is a vocal (loud-mouthed) Content Management rabble-rouser that has said positive things about Box in the past. No strings or conditions were placed on my attendance but I know that Box wants me to talk about the conference, thus raising awareness. I’ll discuss the impact of that in more detail later in the post.

First, I have something to offer you.

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Don’t Discount the Cloud Guys

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Was going to have a multi-rant post, but I’ve decided to slice and dice. I thought I would start with a warning for all the Content Management vendors.

Never discount the cloud guys. They are dangerous. Today they may just be file-sharing or basic document management but tomorrow they’ll be the de facto cloud content repository. As fast as you think you are moving, they are moving faster.

Those flying cloud monkeys have no problem throwing new features up there at a pace that will make your head spin just to see what sticks. They don’t need to make a profit today as they are working to make profit in the future. The source of that profit? Money that is now going to all the other content providers.

How do you beat them? Simple, fix your pricing structure to a metered/usage approach and move to a secure cloud, now. Older vendors know the market better, so if they get the architecture figured out fast enough, they can take the cloud monkeys down.

Oh, and fix that user interface and work on a mobile strategy. Both of these can be handled with agile development processes that you can use to match the cloud guys.

Yes, the cloud guys aren’t there yet, but they are driving a Veyron.