“More and more municipalities are facing increased service demands and lower budgets,” said Samuelson. “A successful information governance strategy accelerates decision-making, increases transparency and eliminates unnecessary compliance risks. It’s a necessity for municipal clerks concerned with compliance.”

In her presentation, Samuelson will discuss:

• Ways municipal clerks, IT and legal work together to drive governance.
• The four steps to building an information governance framework.
• How a governance framework ensures higher service levels, even when times are tough.

Attendees will learn how to assemble a template of the GRC framework for their municipalities; apply change management methodologies to their staff, policies and procedures; and measure the progress of their efforts using a governance maturity model.

“As a technology leader, Laserfiche is committed to bridging the gap between the clerk’s office and the IT department,” said Samuelson. “For over ten years, Laserfiche has been an ardent supporter of IIMC and the municipal clerk community. I’m delighted to present this latest piece of Laserfiche thought leadership to help keep IIMC delegates up to date on current technology trends.”

Laserfiche will be on hand at booth #101–103 throughout the event to demonstrate its agile ECM solutions and distribute copies of its new white paper “GRC: A Framework for Organizational Sustainability.”

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche® has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations have used Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche provides more than 5,000 municipal government clients with central control over their information infrastructure, including standards, security and auditing, while still offering individual departments the flexibility to meet their unique needs. With DoD 5015.2-certified records management, Laserfiche facilitates compliance and transparency—all while improving citizen service and making cities more efficient.

Laserfiche® and Run Smarter® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

“Too many American companies assume that Canadian customers are just like their counterparts in the U.S.,” said Pagé. “We launched LSSCC to better support our Canadian customer base by designing and deploying agile ECM systems that are sensitive to Canada’s unique regulatory, compliance and cultural landscape.”

LSSCC will provide services such as customization, integration, implementation and consulting to strategic Canadian customers. It will also provide technical services to ensure Laserfiche’s agile ECM solutions are best suited to local language and compliance requirements, along with sales and marketing support for Canadian channel partners.

“I first met Pierre when he was President of IIMC,” said Nien-Ling Wacker, President and CEO at Laserfiche. “He’s a dynamic individual with a passion for helping people achieve better business outcomes. His long career with the City of Ottawa, where he used Laserfiche software for a number of years, has given him an insider’s view of customers’ needs, challenges and pain points.”

Pagé began his career with the City of Ottawa in 1978 and served as City Clerk from 1992 until he retired in 2008. He also held numerous roles with the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) before being elected President in 2002.

More than 600 customers across Canada currently use Laserfiche ECM solutions, including TD Financial Services, Tim Horton’s, the City of Niagara, ON, Halifax Regional School Board, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Hamilton Police Service and the University of British Columbia.

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche® has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 28,000 organizations worldwide—including government entities and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche® and Run Smarter® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

“Establishing a framework for information governance is a critical necessity for municipal clerks who are concerned with compliance,” said Samuelson. “It’s a delicate balancing act: Too much information, held beyond legal retention requirements, can cause e-discovery problems. Too little information can complicate audits. Without a solid information governance strategy, cities run unnecessary compliance risks.”

Laserfiche’s framework for information governance has four parts:

• People. Effective information governance requires buy-in from an executive sponsor as well as department heads, users, and legal, technology and records managers.
• Policies. While there is no one-size-fits-all suggestion that can be made in terms of governance policies, it is often helpful to focus on outcomes (value) rather than limits (lock-down).
• Technology. Implementing enterprise content management (ECM) as a foundational component of information governance automates the organization’s approach to information management, ensuring standardization and reliability of information assets.
• Risk management. A well-vetted records management policy that ensures consistency of information across the enterprise is essential to minimizing compliance risks.

“With over 10,000 members, IIMC is one of the most influential government associations in the world,” said Samuelson. “I’m delighted to present the latest piece of Laserfiche thought leadership at this important event and help municipal clerks from around the world learn how to more effectively manage the information entrusted to them by citizens.”

About Laserfiche
Laserfiche® creates simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that help organizations run smarter. Since 1987, more than 28,000 organizations worldwide—including more than 5,000 federal, state and local government agencies—have used Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche is a registered trademark of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

Attendees at the packed "Tipping Point 2.0" educational session - the only empty chair was our photographer's!

Diane Hermann-Brown, City Clerk for the City of Sun Prairie, WI, was inspired after seeing a pre-release demo of Laserfiche Agenda Manager 8.0. (Keep reading the UserNews for more release information.) “It’s more user friendly and has more helpful features and processing options, which will make it a lot more advantageous and efficient for our users,” she says, referring to, among other new features, Agenda Manager 8’s new in-place document editing and enhanced notification capabilities.

Currently, Hermann-Brown is looking to the future to fund a Laserfiche/Granicus integration to publish and distribute the city’s minutes, as well as webstream city meetings. And she’s encouraged by what she saw in Agenda Manager 8. “It’s good to see Laserfiche is still evolving Agenda Manager to meet the changing job requirements of our users,” she says.

Changing is right. Hermann-Brown is cautious but optimistic about the coming year. “It’s hard to convince the city council to spend money on technology, when budgets will be constricted, even when that’s exactly what we need to do to be more efficient,” she says. “Residents don’t expect any less from us in terms of services, so we have to figure out how we’re going to grow for the future, even in these times.” (Helpful hint: the “Laserfiche for Local Government = ECM+BPM” Webinar is a good place to start.)

Barbie Curtis from Van Buren, AR, with Laserfiche Account Manager Morgan Wheeler at the famous Laserfiche reception

Hermann-Brown can be encouraged by users like Linda Andal, City Clerk for the City of Anaheim, CA. Anaheim’s long been recognized for its pioneering use of Laserfiche, which continues with the city upgrading to a Laserfiche Rio ECM system this year. “What I noticed at this year’s IIMC conference were the many sessions on electronic content management and business process mapping, so I felt positive that we’re already getting there,” Andal says. “In this day and age it just makes sense to invest in technology – you can move ahead or you can play catch-up.”

So what inspired Anaheim to move ahead? “We said, ‘We’re here now. We’ve been doing it. Let’s see how we can use tools like Workflow to improve our internal processes for even greater efficiencies,” Andal says. “We looked at the types of records requests we get and the access we can provide, plus the need for greater transparency, and it was apparent that there were areas we could enhance.”

But for all the talk of shrinking revenues and budget cutbacks, Hermann-Brown was happy to see some things at IIMC were the same as in years past.

“We kept hearing companies were going to cut back at IIMC this year, so it was good to see core vendors like Laserfiche coming back year after year,” she says. “It shows me they’re there for us and they’re there with us.”