A bit of a personal post today, but I can’t help myself. If anyone wants to see why it is taking this economy so long to recover from the financial meltdown, here’s my suggestion — refinance your home, and then think a bit about what this one process says about the efficiency of information management and the legal and regulatory obstacles we have created around things that should be simple. And think about how utterly disconnected the people in the big white house and the pretty white dome about 25 miles from here (of both parties) are from the reality of what actually creates economic value. Here are the details. We have been in our home — our only home — for 16 years. The value of the home is roughly 2X what we paid for it, even after the past few years. We’ve been fortunate, and I know that. We have about 10 months left on the mortgage — yahoo! (the exclamation, not the company). The original note on the home was with Countrywide; the note was bought by another company that shall remain nameless about 10 years ago. We have near perfect credit and no debt. Knock wood….

[As is the case with our 8 things series, the opinions expressed in the 5 myths guest columns are those of the guest contributor and not necessarily mine or AIIM's. This guest post is by Shiraz Ahmed, CEO of ITAZ Technologies. As usual, contra perspectives welcome.] Isn’t it ironic that with advancing technology, we are quick to spend on ‘cool’ gadgets for personal use though they do not yield any financial return in most cases; but we are reluctant to invest in technology that is proven to yield a return in the short-to-medium term? This also holds true when it comes to moving a business to the paperless model. Let us look at five myths about paperless offices that prevent organizations from adopting electronic document management, and consequently miss out on the benefits that such technology brings. Myth #1: Dedicated IT staff are required to maintain a DMS application. Reality — This is fast becoming a thing of the past. Modern software applications can be simple to install and easy to maintain. Today’s document management software is designed on a task-based model. That means software developers place themselves in your shoes and learn what organizations want from the solution. What…

In order – and congrats to Greg Clark for #1 ranking… Creating an ECM Organization Structure – Part 1- Building Your Team It’s the Users…An Old Story Repeated Many Times A Tweet is a Record SharePoint – Where to Begin? – Play Legos! Records Management in the Cloud – Another Perspective Two by Two – Part 2 Governance – Overused? Misused? Flavor of the Month? ECM for Unstructured Content Only? No Way! 5 Myths About SharePoint Records Management A Phase 0 Approach for SharePoint 2010 A Steaming Pile of SharePoint [Editor's Note: Gets my vote for favorite title!] SharePoint, Don’t Blame the Product The 5 Second Rule of ECM Content The AIIM Information Certification Why KM Sucks – and what NOT to do about it Relationship Between Content Management and Social Media OpenSocial: Social Content Meets ECM? User Profile List in SharePoint 2010 ECMJam: SharePoint and ECM Enterprise 2.0: Transforming Your Workforce into a Global Pool of Talent —– Registered yet for our Social Business Virtual Conference on September 8? Will we see you at our Content Management Boot Camp?

And the Top Ten list is…(Where’s Letterman?) 5 Myths about Taxonomy and SharePoint 5 myths about SharePoint 5 myths about Document Management 5 myths about the CMIS standard 8 Reasons SharePoint 2010 Looks Like a True ECM System 5 myths About ECM ROI Back of the napkin noodle-ings on the lifecycle of #ECM Google+: A great new potential tool, or just another darn thing to check? 8 Features in SharePoint 2010 That Rock SharePoint Saturday “The Conference” – a quick recap —– Registered yet for our Social Business Virtual Conference on September 8? Will we see you at our Content Management Boot Camp?