So, you’ve just deployed your brand-new collaboration app and you’re looking forward to using it to improve your efficiency and productivity as you work with your colleagues on different projects. But hold on! How you use the application dictates your likelihood of success. You have to be aware that no matter how many features collaboration products possess (e.g., blogs, wikis, document libraries, etc.) they are only useful when properly adopted by the enterprise. This article briefly outlines eight tactics that can drastically improve your overall productivity when using collaborative apps. [Note: Are you a Service Company or VAR in the Document Management Space? If so, have you made your plans to attend the Document Management Service Providers Executive Forum November 4-6 in Nashville? Make your plans NOW; seats are limited.] 8 Ways to Use Collaborative Apps More Effectively 1 — Leverage Notifications. The first step to reaching productivity nirvana is to ensure that your collaboration app notifies you of relevant events when they happen. Mobile device notifications are particularly valuable given today’s highly mobile workforce, but other notification channels include feeds (RSS & ATOM), email and instant messaging. I personally like to be notified via SMS text messaging and IM,…

Organizations often make big plans to get users on-board and excited about their new SharePoint intranet after it launches. They have an office pizza party to announce the new intranet, set everyone’s browser to default to the SharePoint site, or run contests on the site and award prizes for those who visit. While these tactics may work to some degree, the problem is that each one treats user adoption as an afterthought. With many organizations planning to re-launch their SharePoint sites on 2010, or first embarking on a SharePoint project now that 2010 has arrived, it’s time to put user adoption strategies where they belong: at the start of the project. To maximize user adoption of your new intranet, here are the top 8 strategies to consider for your project. [Note: Are you a Service Company or VAR in the Document Management Space? If so, have you made your plans to attend the Document Management Service Providers Executive Forum November 4-6 in Nashville? Make your plans NOW; seats are limited.] 8 Strategies for Increasing User Adoption 1 — Get Input from Across the Organization. Intranet projects are often owned by the Information Technology (IT) and Human Resources departments—working together, or…

8 Things That All DM Solutions Need to Make Life Easy 1 — Easy to Use Interface. When building a strategy for a successful electronic document management solution—as with any significant change to the way business is done within your organization—user acceptance is crucial. The simplest way to minimize the impact of a new solution is to make it as easy and familiar to use as possible. When reviewing different vendors, be sure to have the eventual users as part of the review process. Apart from getting the features users need, how quickly do they understand the layout? Is the interface easy to understand? Does it look like standard applications they are using on a daily basis (such as Microsoft Office) or is it completely different? Is the interface customizable so the users don’t suffer confusion from features they don’t need to use? Would the casual user have much difficulty in remembering how to use it? If the answers are “no” then the success of your implementation is in jeopardy. [Note: Are you a Service Company or VAR in the Document Management Space? If so, have you made your plans to attend the Document Management Service Providers Executive Forum November…

Benchmark yourself against hundreds of your peers in document imaging/conversion/preservation by taking the annual Document Management Service Providers Benchmarking Survey. I will present the aggregated, and confidential results on profits, margins, and revenues at the annual Document Management Service Providers Executive Forum on November 5 and results will also be provided to all participants. Take a few minutes to contribute to this valuable market sizing and trending exercise – then reap the benefits of the executive report and analysis. Please hurry as the survey closes on October 22. Here is the direct link — http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22B8UZQRJDE [A note: The second half of the survey examines some core operating ratios for those in the document channel to allow you to better benchmark your operations. It would be useful before taking the survey to gather the following information — variable selling expense, personnel expense, semi-fixed expenses, fixed expenses, and gross profit (in $ for the most recent fiscal year) in addition to your SG&A Expenses % and your Gross Margin %. If you do not have access to the above financial information, then please feel free to take the survey anyway and skip over those questions — the first half deals with non-financial…