Last Updated on May 15, 2023 Sarah Gayda
Top learnings from the AIIM Forum Europe where digital transformation was the central theme
We had the pleasure of attending the AIIM Forum Europe last month in the London. Continuing the trend from the AIIM Conference in Denver a little over a month ago, it was fantastic to be back in person for another great AIIM event and connect with our partners, customers and colleagues on the other side of the pond.
The AIIM community remains focused on finding better ways to manage information and records in the modern world of work. A few takeaways and themes from the conference:
Adapting to the new world of modern work is paramount
- Post-pandemic, many organizations must adapt to the new way of work, which includes hybrid work. The quote (without attribution) surfaced in one presentation was “Adapt or die.” We believe organizations need to move to more modern and cloud-based enterprise content management systems to provide the best control over their information and enhance collaboration. However, we recognize there is a time and place for a hybrid content management stack as well.
- Process improvement was cited as the top information management focus for recent AIIM surveyrespondents who scored highly on “executive alignment of information management/governance strategies and business strategies.” Information access and data analysis also remain priorities.
- While there is still inertia in some organizations around moving to the cloud, we continue to notice more organizations mentioning they’ve either moved or are in the process of moving to Microsoft 365 and adopting SharePoint (and Teams).
Machine learning is a hot topic in the content management space
- There was a well-attended and interesting session on utilizing machine learning in the content management process. Colligo’s intelligence, alongside SharePoint Syntex, can provide more automation around labelling emails and content to provide a complete solution for organizations of all sizes.
- High-value business processes are typically content oriented, and therefore require content understanding, as noted by Dr. John Bates during his presentation.
- There is a clear distinction between artificial intelligence and machine learning. Machine learning is here and being utilized, while general artificial intelligence remains a goal for broader business applications, particularly in information management.
- Many organizations are starting to look at more automation and machine learning for structured data and will move to structured data eventually. However, we believe many organizations and information professionals are just beginning to think about machine learning for their organizations, and it remains very early days.
Automation is integral to modern management of information
- There has been a significant wave of automation of business processes and workflows the last several years, especially in modern information intelligence. A good example of this is applying metadata to content. Narrowing how many labels end-users need to apply manually makes the process easier, and we believe in automating as much of this as possible.
Also overheard at AIIM Forum Europe
- A few organizations noted that their records management and/or knowledge management practices were still operating with decades-old technology, and no knowledge management strategy was in place.
- Search continues to be a big challenge for organizations and users.
- Many organizations noted that content is EVERYWHERE (Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and more), and information management can be a challenge because of this.
- Uncertainty persists around what to do with old data: keep it, archive it, or migrate to new content services platform. Old information that is not searchable does not hold a lot of value outside of legal.
We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the excitement and energy at the AIIM conferences. Many professionals are keen to better their organizations’ information lifecycle and practices, and we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to help them in their journey.
Until next time!
Every good event needs a good networking and drinks reception at the end. Thanks to Colligo who are hosting our official AIIM Forum Drinks Reception at Sway Bar, literally next door. pic.twitter.com/dYoqDNDzgV
— AIIM Forum Europe (@AIIMForumEurope) June 16, 2022
