How are you using standards?

I guess before we talk about how we are using standards, we should first ask "Are you using standards?"

Today, more than ever, organizations are struggling to ensure that the technology and processes that they have in place will result in positive impact on the organization's bottom line. In other words, we need to be operating at maximum efficiency and effectiveness. If an organization is implementing new technology or a new process, it needs to know that what it is doing will be successful.

Standards are one way that we can increase the level of confidence in what we are implementing and using. So, if you are using standards, tell me how you are using them and if they are helpful to your organization. You can do this by sending an email to Betsy Fanning. I will share the responses via posts to this blog and on Twitter as well as on Information Zen (http://www.informationzen.org.

If you are using standards, you most likely have a lot of good ideas, thoughts and advice as to how to best use them. Why not share them? Let's do a standards focused '8 Things' exercise much like what my manager, John Mancini is doing for various ECM related topics. This is quite easy and will via this blog and the other AIIM blogs provide you additional visibility which is so critical today. While you are relaxing with family and friends over the holidays, start jotting down the 7 or 8 "things" about implementing standards in general or a specific standard that are important to share. In addition to the list, you might also want to include a brief explanatory paragraph for each. Send your list along with a brief bio about yourself and a photo to bfanning@aiim.org. We will publish the lists we receive.

Have a terrific holiday! The new year promises to be filled with wonderful new opportunities. I was never good as a young person at keeping a diary. If I am lucky, my diaries have a week at most of entries and then pristine, clean pages! So, it is no wonder that my blog is so quiet. My focus for 2010 is to promote AIIM and its AIIM Standards program so you will be seeing more from me, hopefully.