Texas CIOs Discussing Current Information Management Trends

All around the world, across every organization, the same situation occurs every day: the IT department is inundated with requests to solve problems by multiple business units.

While requests will vary in magnitude, the problem solving approach employed by the IT team is extremely important. Are they trying to find a way to say yes? Are they looking to partner with business units rather than just align? These are just some of the decisions modern CIOs are being asked to make, as their roles within the enterprise evolve.

To provide further insight regarding the buzz generated by CIOs who attended our recent symposia series, we welcome Kimberly Samuelson back for the 2nd part of her Vlog series. In today’s Vlog, Kimberly shares some of her favorite CIO quotes regarding current trends in information management. Do you agree with these CIOs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Fresh off a road trip around Texas visiting local CIO’s at a series of CIO Symposia, Kimberly Samuelson provides an overview of the challenges and issues facing IT departments in 2012. In the first of a series of Vlogs reflecting upon discussions and insights gained from CIOs, Samuelson discusses the disconnect between, “What experts are saying your technology priorities should be, versus what they actually are.”  Think BYOIT will change the way you prioritize your IT projects? What about the evolving role of IT with business units? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section!

Briefing

Laserfiche Mobile for iPad Garners International Attention

Earlier this month, Laserfiche announced the immediate availability of Laserfiche Mobile for iPad, an app that makes it easy for employees to securely view and act upon mission-critical content from wherever they are, while also ensuring that mobile content resides within the organization’s IT governance structure.

As part of the Laserfiche suite, Laserfiche Mobile for iPad:

• Provides secure, anywhere access to documents, metadata and audio-visual files stored in the Laserfiche repository.
• Enables users to create and upload new electronic documents.
• Tracks and audits all mobile activity occurring in Laserfiche.
• Prevents bottlenecks in business processes by giving mobile employees the ability to participate in workflows.
• Enables people to configure custom views of the Laserfiche repository on their iPads.

Media from around the world have taken note, including:

• Network Computing: “Beyond email and Web browsing lurks a world where handheld devices are actually used for productivity. Yes, iPhones and the like certainly know how to have fun, but there comes a time when real work needs to get done. This is where apps like the new Laserfiche Mobile content management app remind us of the sheer productivity power of smartphones and tablets.”
• CMS Critic: “In a move that will hopefully lead to more and more iPad apps from CMS vendors, Laserfiche has announced the release of Laserfiche Mobile for iPad.”
• Computerworld: Reporter Matt Hamblen highlights the City of Wichita Falls, TX, as an example of an organization that has planned and executed a rollout of iPad tablets in conjunction with Laserfiche to reduce costs. “In terms of paper reduction, the iPads and Laserfiche approach have reduced 14 file cabinets-full of paper records to two drawers in a single cabinet, with a resulting savings in records processing… [The city’s database applications analyst] said, ‘It’s cost effective and paying for itself. There’s savings in paper and to the community looking up documents.’” This story also appeared in:
  • PCWorld
  • CIO India
  • PC Advisor
  • ARN

Laserfiche Mobile for iPad, which includes a built-in demonstration, is available for free download from the Apple App Store. Laserfiche Mobile for iPad operates with Laserfiche Web Access as a part of Laserfiche Avante and Laserfiche Rio systems. To accept connections from Laserfiche Mobile for iPad, Laserfiche users can download the free add-on, Laserfiche Mobile for iPad Add-On, from the Laserfiche Support Site.

To learn more about Laserfiche Mobile, please contact Sarah Kellison.

Company News

Laserfiche Donates to Scottish Church in Memory of Bob Gilchrist

When Laserfiche CEO Nien-Ling Wacker visited Old St. Paul’s Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh last year and saw congregants being carried up the steep outdoor steps to attend service, she started thinking about Robert “Bob” Gilchrist, a native Scot who helped set Laserfiche on the path to success.

Gilchrist, a business coach for high-tech entrepreneurs, first directed Wacker to stop selling hardware and software and focus purely on software development. Next, he suggested the company develop a value added reseller (VAR) channel to distribute, install and service that software. The VAR channel permits Laserfiche to sell software through a global network of resellers that interact directly with customers, offering a personal touch in a highly competitive, multi-billion-dollar industry.

It took a few years—and four million Laserfiche users on five continents—before Wacker would come to fully appreciate Gilchrist’s revolutionary advice. Yet it was more time than Gilchrist had. He died in 1996 at the age of 57, leaving Wacker to think about him from time to time as she watched the company he played an integral role in building continue expanding beyond what either of them ever envisioned.

On April 30, Wacker presented Old Saint Paul’s with a £40,000 (US$64,000) gift that will allow the 200-year-old church to install a platform chair lift that will help those who need it—just as Gilchrist helped her company some 20 years ago.

“When Bob was alive we still weren’t in a position to fully understand or appreciate how much his guidance and friendship meant to us and our company,” Wacker said. “We’re hoping now, that in its own small way, this gift lets people reflect a bit on Bob and the importance of helping others.”

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Laserfiche Brings Video to Its Blog

The Laserfiche ACE Blog is the most direct source of knowledge from Laserfiche experts. In our new, video blog posts, Kimberly Samuelson, Director of Government Strategy, deconstructs the top trends in information management:

• In Streamlining the Business of Government, Samuelson shares how state and local governments are using ECM as a foundation for revenue-generating, document-driven processes.
• In ECM & Mobility, you’ll learn how the consumerization of IT is shifting content management decisions within organizations from IT departments to business units.

In addition to the video entries, written blog posts regularly explore issues including:

• What Is a Composite Content Application?
• What Is Integrative Middleware?
• Are Certifications Important When Selecting a Records Management System?

Explore everything the blog has to offer here: http://www.laserfiche.com/ACEBlog/Index

In the News

• IDM: Laserfiche launches iPad app for mobile ECM
• CMS Wire: Three Steps to a Holistic Integration Strategy
• IT Business Edge: How CIOs Can Create an Enterprise Integration Strategy
• Network Computing: Laserfiche Mobile Brings Enterprise Content Management to iDevices
• Computerworld: Consumerization trend creates IT worries, worker benefits

Upcoming Events

ARMA Canada Conference in Nanaimo, BC, on June 3-6: Laserfiche will deliver the Technology Spotlight address, “Maintain Precise Control with Transparent Records and Information Management” on June 5 from 10:30 am – 12:00 noon.

Microsoft WPC in Toronto, ON, on July 8-12: Laserfiche will be on hand (booth #645) to talk about opportunities for systems integrators looking to solve ECM-related challenges with Microsoft-friendly technology.

Empower 2013 in Anaheim, CA, on January 7-9: Save the date for the best Laserfiche conference yet!

Participate in the Community

Submit an Article: Laserfiche is now accepting submissions for guest articles to be featured in our weekly reseller newsletter (circulation: 3,000) and in our monthly newsletter for end users (circulation: 24,000). If you would like to showcase your expertise within the Laserfiche community, please e-mail Melissa Henley with your proposed story idea.

If your organization is like most, you probably have between five and 20 applications that are content-related. Employees have to learn how to use multiple systems just to get one task done. IT staff has to dedicate time and resources to managing multiple systems—many of which have very similar functions—in multiple departments.

Faced with ever increasing demands to maximize business value, state and local government entities may find themselves asking, “How can we better master what we already own?” Among these existing assets, many are finding untapped potential within their documents and document-driven processes. In this video blog, Kimberly Samuelson explains how enterprise content management (ECM) helps harness the power of information, reducing costs and redundancies to create better business value.

To learn more about implementing ECM as a foundation for high-value, document-driven processes, download the Center for Digital Government’s “Streamlining the Business of Government” whitepaper: http://www.laserfiche.com/PDF/Document/2709728