Despite the phenomenal rate at which technology is created and enhanced, enabling us to operate faster, more efficiently and more productively, much of what is available today began in science fiction. Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, HG Wells, Gene Roddenberry, and countless other science fiction writers, envisaged worlds where technology enhanced life and defined humanity.
Today still, imagination drives innovation, yet occasionally the capabilities enabled through new technology seem almost unreal. A case in point is the solution to the following question posing the astronaut Michael Fincke onboard the International Space Station:
"Have you ever tried to analyse a water sample while scrolling through pages of a procedure manual displayed on a computer monitor, while you and the computer float in microgravity?"
The solution is "Clarissa", a "speaking computer", something like HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Fincke speaks directly to Clarissa as though she were another crew member on board, yet she is nothing more than a combination of advanced linguistics and categorisation technology with a voice interface.
This raises a more important consideration: easy access to documents required to perform his task. Whether instructions are printed in a paper manual, displayed on a computer screen or voiced by Clarissa, it all boils down to one thing: a document.
Knowledge and value are contained in documents. In Fincke`s case, someone figured out the best way for an astronaut to analyse a water sample and wrote it down in a document. If you consider this fact, you will realise it is through documents that the world`s work gets done. With all their current unstructured, meandering ways, documents are indeed the lifeblood of offices and entire organisations.
Unfortunately, most documents are dumb as the day is long. They cannot have an idea who they belong to, what is to be done with them, where they are going next, or what damage could accrue if they fell into the wrong hands.
Thanks to imagination and technology, this is about to change: documents are being smartened up.
Evolution to greatness
The old world of IT has always been made up of little "i" and a big "T". The focus has always been on technology. The new world of IT is made up of a big "I" and a little "t"; the focus is now on what really matters - information and the documents containing it.
This new focus concentrates on how information flows, where it goes, who it touches and the value it delivers. And documents are the containers in which information is presented for human processing.
Today still, imagination drives innovation, yet occasionally the capabilities enabled through new technology seem almost unreal.
Rob Abraham, MD of Bytes Document Solutions
Grasping this, an airline in the US has begun making its documents smarter. Its documents can structure their own content, automate their own distribution and approvals, track signoff by thousands of reviewers, retire themselves to a database and provide reporting statistics to management. They keep the planes flying on time and in compliance with safety regulations. They can do all of this thanks to smarter documents and smarter document management.
Smarter document management involves three phases: making a dumb document smart; managing documents better because they are smarter; and enabling documents to manage themselves. In this final stage, smart documents send themselves to the people who need to know what is in them. They lock themselves away from people who should not see them. They recognise when they are carrying information that is pertinent to specific regulations. They schedule new steps in a process when they see the need. And they prompt workers to take action.
As a result, our jobs become much simpler. We retain responsibility for the "what" of the business process: what to do, what goals to achieve. The "how", "where" and "why" are all handled by the smart document.
Smart documents that can "talk" to us: seems almost unbelievable, like something that belongs in an Asimov novel. But it is a reality; one that will enable organisations to meet their goals of increasing productivity and competitiveness while decreasing cost and security threats.
* Part two of this series discusses the need to truly listen to customers, thereby enabling the evolution to smart documents. Without a deep understanding of what organisations need, progress is negated.
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