Roadkill Marketing

My Twitter and Facebook networks saw me throw a hissy fit this week when I proclaimed a strong negative reaction to a short cartoon marketing video. I'm not reposting a link to it, figuring I've probably already driven more traffic to it than they ever expected.

The final scene showed a little cartoon humanoid hit a brick wall at high speed, shattering the wall, pancaking him/herself and splattering on the ground, only to be gawked at by his fellow humanoids. The point was to explain how to make your digital mailroom more compliant with regulations.

Oh, I get it. Nice little piece of content there... shame if anything were to happen to it.

Now there were a couple of defenders of the piece, appreciating the unique approach, liking the graphics, and in that respect I agree. If nothing else, debate got stirred - not a bad outcome for a marketer.

But it played to the most wretched message of Fear. This is what has disturbed me greatly over the past few years about the evolution of the Compliance message in ECM. It smacks of veiled threat, assuring your personal or professional damage if you don't buy a certain tool. The message encourages rigidity and conformity when what successful businesses need today is agility, critical thinking and the courage to toss out broken stupid processes. It's why the "New ROI = Risk of Incarceration" LOL line wasn't actually funny after 10,000th vendor repeated it.

Seriously, aren't companies sick and tired of the scare tactics yet? Where's a vendor with grace and vision and shares this optimism with their customers and partners?

Compliance is an outcome of doing good business. It's not an objective in itself. It can't be. Other than for vendors and consultants who thrive on selling fear.

What Do Law Firms Need to Know About Web 2.0?

It's ILTA week!

Have had some interesting conversations with my colleagues in the Legal Solutions group over the last few months, as we explore the unique requirements of law firms in this new world of 2.0 and Social Media.

In July, we co-hosted a webinar with our ILTA peer group and explored some of these issues and use cases. We'll be building on that session this week at the conference...

Some of the key themes we'll discuss:

• Next Generation Content Explosion Will Come from Web 2.0 & Social Media: the content forms emerging from the "Web 2.0" world will increasingly supplement (or supplant) more traditional electronic document forms... how will this impact your firm's document management strategy?

• Social Workplace and Social Marketplace: the core Use Cases for "2.0" fall into 2 high level categories - a firm adopts new technologies to build out a more Social Workplace or a more Social Marketplace. Is the conversation and collaboration requirements focused on better connecting and communicating with colleagues (internal/workplace)? or with contractors, clients or prospects (external/marketplace)?

• Risk vs. Reward: all new forms of online communication and collaboration have inherent risk AND reward - figuring out the right balance for your firm is the real challenge - so look at a refresh to your overall information governance and appropriate use policies to make sure a useful set of boundaries are set and clearly communicated to users.

If you can't make it to ILTA in person, here are links to the content we'll be discussing:

Slideshare PowerPoint link: http://www.slideshare.net/CherylMcKinnon/what-do-law-firms-need-to-know-about-web-20

Open Text calendar highlights for ILTA event here: ILTA - Events Page (Come see me present the "What Do Law Firms Need to Know About Web 2.0" session at 10:30am on Wednesday August 26!)

Sign up for the Open Text Legal Community of Practice - get the full recorded webinar from July 15, along with a host of other rich resources in our online customer forum here: Open Text Online (Request an account if you're not already a member)

Whitepapers from Open Text - Enterprise 2.0, Building the Social Workplace, Building the Social Marketplace

See you at the Gaylord!

What Do Records Managers Need to Know About Web 2.0?

This has become one of my pet research topics over the last 2 years. I've been invited to present this topic now in front of at least six ARMA chapters, a couple of AIIM events, four or five public sector conferences, the RMAA annual conference in Australia ...not to mention annoying my Records and Archiving "aspirin" colleagues with my endless fist-pounding cafeteria rants.

I keep promising @JesseWilkins that I'll put up a slideshare version of my ever-evolving deck, but in the meantime, here's where you can get to some of the key content:

June 2009: Discussion on US Federal News Radio "Daily Debrief Show":June 3, 2009 Federal News Radio MP3 Link

Slide Deck: From April 2009 Ontario Public Sector Information Management Conference: What do Records Managers Need to Know About Web 2.0


KM World Whitepaper from Fall 2008 (sign up required... free download): KM World Whitepaper Dec 2008


Legaltech NYC Keynote recap, January 2009 "Think Left" from ECM Briefs

RMAA Keynote Recap, September 2008, "What's Hot with Records Managers in Australia"? from ECM Briefs

2008 Podcast with Information Architected @Dan Keldsen, Records Management Product Marketing Goddess Liz Kofsky & me: ECM Briefs - link to podcast

I'll keep updating this resource list as content is published and updated.

Candy and Aspirin - Why The Blog Name?

I think it was our Exec VP of Corporate Marketing - Bill Forquer - who first uttered the words that made me laugh. A dozen or so of us at Open Text were doing some wrap up brainstorming after a great day with a few industry analysts up in our Waterloo HQ.

We were talking about wicked product innovations we had in the lab and what we could do to better enhance our user experience. Everyone agreed we were the leaders when it came to records management, archiving, security, compliance solutions, but what about all of the cool usability stuff we had but maybe we just didn't talk about enough - Web Content Management, collaboration/communities, digital asset management...

How could we work better to balance the product portfolio, and our especially the marketing message around it?

"It's Candy and Aspirin", Bill said. "It's that balance of the attractive things that people want, with the necessary risk reducers that they need".

Back then I was leading the team responsible for our Livelink ECM collaboration product team, but working very closely with the VP looking after the RM and compliance solutions team.

Well, "I'm a candy girl", I exclaimed! And my colleague looked across the table and said, "so I guess that makes me aspirin...." We all laughed uproariously.

Maybe you had to be there...



But it stuck. Candy and Aspirin became a shorthand for an internal joke - but also a serious rallying point to remind us to seek balance - how did products and solutions meet top line efficiency and productivity "wants" of business users as well as the cost savings, regulatory compliance, risk mitigation pressures that legal and records officers "need"... And so over the last year the internal joke has been leaked (consciously and subversively) outside the meeting room walls too. Because it makes sense. Especially in the world of figuring out where 2.0 & social forms of collaboration fits in the business world.



Yin/Yang, Fun/Serious, Work/Play, Personal/Professional, Want/Need

Balance is difficult to find, but ultimately what we all seek. Not just in product marketing or technology portfolios, but in our lives.

My unabashed adoration for social networking tools, platforms and media types is because they help bring balance to my life. When work encroaches into evening and weekend hours.. I know I have the escape hatch to do the same - in the right balance - letting personal connections seep into the edges of my work hours. I live in a city away from most of my family and trusted social circle - and technology helps render geography null & void and bring balance to my world.




Candy & Aspirin KM World paper here

"Information Governance in the 2.0 World"

Thrilled to finally see my article "Information Governance in the 2.0 World" appear in the current March 2009 issue of Financial Executive Magazine . (Note - subscription only...)

As the culture, technologies and content forms inspired by the world of Web 2.0 are adopted by information workers, the potential for disruption in mainstream business is massive... if we don't pay attention now.

New perspectives on appropriate use policies, a rethink of privacy, security and confidentiality, a recognition of the opportunity to see substantial cost savings and productivity improvements, the chance to discover unheard voices and expertise. Companies that want to stay agile and reinvent themselves while competitors retrench in fear can use the new world of online collaboration to advantage.

Check out the article if you can, or use this opportunity to make a friend in your corporate finance department and see if they'll lend you their copy of the magazine. That's what the social workplace is all about, right?

(nice comments/summary of this article at Lee Hopkins blog: http://leehopkins.net/2009/04/18/information-governance-in-a-20-world/)