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Minnesota Business and Technology Forums www.masvf.com/forums/index.php Your 24x7 Gateway to Minnesota HighTech & MedTech |
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Looking for the perfect candidate? Contact NetSuds You never pay a fee unless you hire a candidate we refer. All placements are 100% guaranteed! |
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Email Ad Rates Small ads are $75/ad. Large
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Re-sending of this newsletter to any number of colleagues is encouraged provided you also cc: report@netsuds.com. In return, we will invite recipients to subscribe. Any other unauthorized re-distribution is a violation of copyright law. Subscribe to this report by subscribing to the NetSuds Report at http://www.netsuds.net/mail.htm. You can get the web version of these reports at http://www.netsuds.com/report/ Definition: "com and .com" = Telecom, Datacom, IT, Software or Internet In this Issue: 1.0
Minnesota Business and Technology Forums |
1.0 Minnesota Business and Technology Forums
The Minnesota Business and Technology Forums are useful for many purposes. In order to view and post information on the web forums, you need to register by creating an account. There are many reasons to create a free account. In order to fully participate as a "NetSudser" in the Minnesota hightech community, you should create an account and use it to full advantage.
The Minnesota Business and Technology Forums - http://www.masvf.com/forums/index.php
Upcoming Events - http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4
HighTech Companies - http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17
People On The Move - http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=12
Press Releases - http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13
Why email only to your small email list of associates when you can post this information on Minnesota Business and Technology Forums and have access to 5500+ NetSudsers.
2.0 Jobs in the "com and .com" Market
Click on http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28 for a list of available HighTech Jobs in Minnesota that have been posted at the Minnesota Business & Technology Forums.
We encourage you to post available jobs for hightech professionals in Minnesota. You must identify which company you represent. If your company is already listed, please do not create a duplicate thread. Instead, post to the same thread. If you are a recruiter, you must identify yourself as such.
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Thank you for the support many of you have shown to the NetSuds recruiting association with the American Consulting Company. We have developed a quality and impressive NetSuds candidate database. We always appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we might help in locating candidates for your open positions. And, we've added an association with OnCall Staffing - www.oncallstaffing.com. If you are a hiring manager, you are invited to review our process, our commitment to ethical standards and diversity recruiting, and other areas of interest at: www.americanconsultingcompany.com. When you identify yourself as a member of the NetSuds association, we will offer you a discounted rate to assist in locating candidates for your company. And remember, you never pay a fee unless you hire one of our candidates.
If you are a candidate, visit the
‘Candidate Kit’ at
www.americanconsultingcompany.com.
You will find valuable tools to help in your job search. When you send us
your resume, be sure and mention your association with
NetSuds. |
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| How did one out-of-work Design Engineer from Ohio get hired -- right over the phone -- after making a simple telephone call to his old manager? Discover the answer -- and learn about 50 other job search secrets -- in a controversial report ... Click here | ||||
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3.0 Calendar of Events
The calendar for hightech and medtech events in Minnesota is scattered all over in print, email and online publications. Up until now, there has been no single definitive calendar. NetSuds and MedSuds has created the first and only online calendar for all hightech, medtech, biotech and life science events in Minnesota.
Calendar of Events - http://www.masvf.com/forums/calendar.php?
You can use the online calendar to post your organization's events. We will even allow the posting of events which compete with NetSuds and MedSuds events. The calendars are free to use for both tracking events and for posting your own events.
Non-Minnesota companies conducting events in Minnesota will not be allowed to post events for free, even if they are teaming up with a Minnesota company. Non-Minnesota companies or organizations should contact matt@netsuds.com to discuss the fees associated with posting such events.
| Recorded Event |
NetSuds
Off-Shore Out-Sourcing Archived Webinar http://www.netsuds.com/webinar/outsource/ |
|
| Recorded Event |
MedSuds Stem Cell Conference
Archived Webcast http://www.medsuds.com/conference/stemcell/ |
|
| 1/18-19 |
NetSuds Think On Your Feet Workshop®
- Minnetonka http://www.netsuds.com/workshop/toyf/ |
|
| May 9-10 |
Minnesota Venture Capital Conference -
Bloomington http://www.mnvcc.com/ |
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| May 11 |
Midwest Association of Seed & Venture Funds
Conference - Bloomington http://www.masvf.com/ |
4.0 Tidbits
Visiting
http://www.masvf.com/forums/index.php
allows one to visit the Minnesota Business and Technology Forums and observe
what is available. However, in order to become a member of the community,
one must register. Registration is simple and has several advantages.
First, you can search for other members in the community using names, IDs and
keywords related to industries. Second, you can identify yourself to the
community through the use of keywords and interests. Third, you can
subscribe to certain "threads" and receive email when these threads experience
activity. You may also unsubscribe from any thread at any time.
Fourth, you can post to the Forums. This is extremely powerful.
Members can post their opinions, information and engage in online discussions.
Jobs can be posted. Events can be posted.
NetSuds encourages members to choose
usernames which readily identify one's self to the community. For example,
the username "johnsmith" identifies the member as John Smith (or at least we
hope!). Use of IDs to hide one's identity is not encouraged in these
Forums. Remember, this is a professional Web Forum and not some
adolescent, rumor-spreading chatroom. Even after you register you can alter your user profile in the "CP" section
along the top of the Forum webpage. 4.2 Fighting
Child Porn From INTERNETWEEK NEWSLETTER, Tuesday, December 14, 2004, Did someone forward
this to you? Get your own NewsBreak subscription
4.1 Register For The Minnesota Business
and Technology Forums
High-tech companies often deserve more criticism than praise, but occasionally someone in the industry launches an initiative that deserves a high-five. The Distributed Computing Industry Association is on a crusade to drive child pornography out of peer-to-peer networks.
The trade group that represents P2P companies like Grokster and Sharman Networks launched on Monday a site called P2P Patrol
(
www.p2ppatrol.com) that's meant to help network users recognize and report child pornography. The site is the latest step taken by the group since launching its initiative in the spring.But the best is yet to come. The DCIA plans to make available in February, software tools that its members could integrate into the desktop software downloaded by subscribers. If a customer finds what he thinks is child pornography, he only has to right-click on the file and select CPHotline.org, which will send the file location and other information to DCIA. If the group determines that the file contains illegal images or video, then DCIA will notify law enforcement.
The DCIA deserves a big pat on the back for taking on the role of filter between consumers and law enforcement. Rather than overwhelm police with a lot of files that may not fit the definition of illegal pornography, the group is willing to screen the submissions first.
The only complaint I have is against the DCIA's slow-moving members. So far, only two have publicly supported the initiative, while the others remain actively involved behind the scenes, according to DCIA Chief Executive Marty Lafferty.
Lafferty expects nearly 100 percent support of the upcoming software tool once a number of legal and technical issues are worked out.
Let's hope so. A company would have a difficult time explaining why they opted out of this initiative.
4.3 VideoPhone
Vonage Partners With Videophone Maker. Vonage Holdings has entered a development partnership with Viseon.
http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/ek5U0GPAFJ0G4X0C3MD0AQ
4.4 128 Venture Capital Group Discontinues
The esteemed 128 Venture Capital Group was a Boston landmark entrepreneur event for over 21 years. Their monthly entrepreneur breakfasts brought Boston area professionals together for some of the most critical networking opportunities available. www.128vcg.com. Congratulations to Michael Belanger of the 128 Venture Capital Group on a great run.
4.5 Grow Iowa Values Fund
Central Iowa business leaders will focus their legislative lobbying efforts on
getting permanent funding for the state's premier business incentive program,
the Grow Iowa Values Fund. Officials of the Greater Des Moines Partnership
said Friday that continuing the seven-year economic development program is one
of the most important issues that will come before the Iowa Legislature, which
starts its 2005 session on Jan. 10:
4.6 Wisconsin News
Wisconsin Start-Ups Need Help Sooner Put another way, the funnel through which deals flow is backward in
Wisconsin, says Lane Brostrom, managing director of TechStar, an
organization created to accelerate start-ups in the Milwaukee area. By
putting too much emphasis on venture capital and not enough on the early
stages of business creation, he believes, the state puts itself at a
disadvantage:
Wisconsin lags neighboring states in funding for new companies, but efforts are under way to encourage more "angel" investors to help launch businesses here, the state's top financial regulator said Monday.
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/dec04/283846.asp4.7
$1B Spam Judgment Awarded in Iowa A federal
judge has awarded an ISP over $1 billion in a lawsuit against companies that
used the service provider's equipment to send spam. Read more about this
huge judgment.
http://ct.enews.eweek.com/rd/cts?d=186-1440-2-79-101270-159963-0-0-0-1
4.8 Online vs. Newspaper Advertising
http://www.internetweek.com/allStories/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200498
Popular community web site Craigslist, which launched in the mid-1990s, has cost newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area from $50 million to $65 million in employment advertising revenue, a consulting group said Monday.
4.9 Favorite FireFox Extensions
http://www.internetweek.com/allStories/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200328
Mozilla's Firefox browser has spread through the Web-browsing community like, well, wildfire. While its current immunity to the malware afflicting Microsoft Internet Explorer may have sparked its popularity, one of the things that will keep Firefox in public favor is its use of extensions. These add-ons allow users to either keep browser lean and mean, or include a variety of utilitarian, interesting, or just plain fun features.
4.10 128 Innovation Capital Group Formed
"128 Innovation Capital Group" to build on the History of the 128 Venture Capital Group
Waltham, Massachusetts. Dec 29, 2004, On January 13th The 128 Innovation Capital Group, will hold its first meeting on the second Thursday of the month at the Best Western Hotel on Totten Pond Road in Waltham. On December 9, Michael Belanger held the final meeting of the 128 Venture Capital Group, so that he could dedicate his full attention to his role as Co- founder of his semantic information indexing and search software company, Waltham-based JARG Corp. "Jarg" stands for "understanding" the jargon of professionals. It was a meeting where all types of entrepreneurs met and networked with angel and early-stage investors. The 128 VC Group is a tradition that would not retire easily.
Following last month's announcement - the persistence of many attendees has resulted in the establishment of a similar new forum called the 128 Innovation Capital Group by Emerging Technologies of Lincoln, MA. The "innovation capital" organization will continue the momentum and build on the established tradition of the 128VCG's early-stage high tech entrepreneurial networking breakfast forums on the second Thursday of each month in Waltham.
According to Richard Langevin, a past speaker, angel investor, and a
consultant to emerging firms, "There are a number of forums in the New
England area, but none compare with the unique networking, educational,
and support provided by this format for entrepreneurs seeking funding
and to nourish their business goals." There will also be continuity with
Gisa Belanger, of Emerging Technologies remaining the principal of the
new forum. Annette Reynolds, who has provided administrative support for
the 128 VCG the past 3 years, will stay on in an expanded role as the
128 ICG's Executive Director. Some changes in internal processes and
sponsorship opportunities will be announced.
On January 13, 2005 (the second Thursday) the 128 ICG will meet 7:15am in Waltham, at the Best Western TLC Hotel, with angel investor Tom Black of Easton Investment Company, as the featured speaker. On February 10, 2005, the group will meet again on the second Thursday at the same time and place with early stage investor Robert Jevon of Millennium Partners as the featured speaker.
4.11 2005 MN VC Conference Investors
The list of committed investors -
www.mnvcc.com/agenda/speakerprofiles/2005.htm
- for the 2005 MN VC Conference is growing quickly. Investors can
apply for a complimentary registration. The early early-bird
registration deadline is December 31, 2004 so register today at
www.mnvcc.com/register/.
5.0 Email Advertising
The NetSuds and MedSuds email lists reach 8000+. The NetSuds email lists are double-opt-in and concentrated on professionals in the communications, IT and Internet markets. The MedSuds email lists are double-opt-in and concentrated on professionals in the medtech, biotech and life sciences markets. So, rather than spend your advertising dollars on any other email lists in the Twin Cities, consider the NetSuds and MedSuds lists. Contact matt@netsuds.com or 612.605.5252. For current ad rates, visit www.netsuds.com/adrates.htm.
6.0 NetSuds CEO Roundtable - Next Roundtables starting in January 2005
NetSuds is opening up another group of CEO Roundtables in January 2005. If you are tech or medtech CEO and want to join us, (the first session is free), contact matt@netsuds.com. A synopsis of the CEO Roundtable can be found at www.netsuds.com/ceo/ It is repeated here as well.
NetSuds CEO Roundtable
Membership Only CEOs of tech and medtech companies are allowed to join the NetSuds CEO Roundtable. If you are a VP, CxO or President, you are not welcome unless you also hold the CEO title. Perhaps we will start a CFO, CTO or COO Roundtable but until then, we are only interested in the top dog, the CEO. If you are interested in becoming a member, contact matt@netsuds.com. Membership is not automatic. There must be an available spot open in the roundtable. You must have employees. Your company must be incorporated. Your company must be a tech (communications, IT, software, Internet) or medtech (medtech, biotech, life sciences) company. You must pay a yearly fee of $1500 in advance. You may not send substitutes to the Roundtable.
Roles Unlike the days of knights, kings and Camelot, there is no king of the NetSuds CEO Roundtable; only a facilitator; Matt Noah, CEO of NetSuds.com, Inc. Knights are replaced by CEOs and the table won't be quite round.
Schedule The Roundtable will meet 10
times per calendar year on the last
Tuesday of every month. Each meeting lasts 2.0 hours starting at 7 am. A facility
convenient to the majority of Roundtable members is used. A continental breakfast
is served.
| Our next introductory session (free) has been scheduled for January 25, 2005. Attendance will be limited to just CEOs. Contact matt@netsuds.com if you want an invitation. |
Purpose CEOs need resources to assist them in executing their duties and leading their companies. Boards of Directors and upper management are not always the best or most independent resources upon which to draw. The CEO Roundtable exists to provide CEOs with an independent resource of wisdom and shared experience. Your key 'take-aways' from the Roundtable will be accelerated learning - so as to avoid common and uncommon pitfalls -, an expanded network of advisors and colleagues and tools to enhance the productivity and value of your enterprise.
Content First, networking among the CEO members of a Roundtable is the best and richest content. Second, the Roundtable facilitator will schedule subject matter experts of interest to the CEOs. Examples include intellectual property, branding, sales, engineering, marketing, finance, compensation, human resources, M&A, etc.
Format Meetings will consist primarily of 2 elements. First, "content" will be presented and discussed. Second, "discussion" of common problems and solutions will take place. The facilitator will lead both elements or assign elements to certain CEOs.
Confidentiality Roundtable meetings are completely confidential. Nothing said in a roundtable discussion, short of illegal activity, leaves the meeting. This allows each CEO to feel comfortable discussing issues and subjects he may not feel comfortable speaking about with others.
7.0 Outsourcing: Customer relations is the killer - Part Two: Listen, very carefully
By NetSudser Charlie Demerjian, charlie@stonearch.net
A can of Coke probably won’t need warranty service in three months, but if you open it, and it tastes in the slightest way off, there is a well-staffed phone bank that will make it right. IBM will make it right. In my last few calls to them HP wouldn’t, and neither would Dell.
When HP went on its self-destructive outsourcing rampage last year, I got a lot of letters from the people who were let go. Some of them, especially the ones in Canada, told me a story that exemplifies the problem. They were all paid in the $10-15 an hour range while working for HP. Then they got fired, or some other word that portends humanity, but lacks it in meaning. They were immediately offered the same job at the outsourcing company located in the same town. The "new" jobs paid in the $5-10 an hour range. Worse yet, working conditions were much worse at the new place.
The worst part was the contract was bid on cost and, while I have not seen it myself, I would suspect, numeric targets. Things like problems resolved in X number of minutes after no longer than Y minutes on hold. No more than Z percent of callers will have to call second time. The usual.
People on the inside were told not to take time to fix the problems if it took more than a few minutes. Don’t help the customer do anything more than the bare minimum. Training? Again, bare minimum. It was all about hitting the numbers, not about fixing things. When you bid for outsourcing contracts, you don’t bid for quality of service, you bid for the lowest cost that will meet the bare minimum of service you reasonably expect people will tolerate. Bad bad bad move.
If you haven’t guessed, this is not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the consumer base, and it gets worse. The people who answer the calls are graded on how long they take to resolve a problem. If your job depends on averaging 10 calls an hour, eight hours a day, and someone calls in with a problem that you know will take 45 minutes to resolve, what do you do, fix the problem, or tell them to do something that will get them off the phone in five minutes?
Imagine you are a call centre operator and you have some poor sod who has the misfortune of installing McAfee 6.0x, and when they try to install a SuperDat upgrade, it blows up on them. The control panel no longer works, the uninstall no longer works, and you can’t reinstall because it tells you to uninstall the old one first.
The right answer to fix this is to open regedit, and delete all Network Associates and McAfee related keys, one by one. Then delete the program folders, installers, and associated detritus. There are a lot of keys, I have done this several times, and it does not get any more fun each time I do it. After a half dozen times, I could do it in 30 minutes, 45 if the machine was less than cutting edge.
So, you are the hapless call center worker, and someone calls you saying McAfee is hosed. You know exactly what the problem is as soon as you hear the first symptom, even before the dog slow terminal walks you to the correct part of the flowchart. You can fix this one in your sleep. Now comes the moral dilemma, do you fix it right the first time, telling the person that it will take at least an hour, or do you tell them to pull out the install disks, format the drive and reinstall Windows because there is no hope for them?
If you actually care about the customer, and have pride in getting things fixed because your company does no less for its customers, you take the hour or more. If you are reprimanded for not hitting your numbers, and stand a good chance of being fired because the tracking system doesn’t care about how the customers are overjoyed with their support, you tell them to format, and are off the phone in two minutes flat.
Part One was published in December. Part Three will be published in February.
8.0 Driving Forces of Commoditization
By NetSudser Jeff Thull, CEO and President of Prime Resource Group, jpthull@primeresource.com
Rapid commoditization of products and services is exasperating even the most skilled professionals. The solution provider is struggling to differentiate their unique products and services and simultaneously customers are putting the squeeze on margins and driving unique value to the lowest common denominator – price.
How is this happening? Why is the trend increasing at an alarming rate and how can you hold your price and get paid for the value you deliver?
To start to understand this dilemma we need to take a hard look at the three driving forces of commoditization…advances in technology, lack of connecting unique value to customer’s business drivers and pressure on buyers to make quality buying decisions.
Companies are constantly seeking differentiation by upping the ante in technological advances. When the ante continues to escalate, you may find yourself not only playing against the advances of your competitor, but you may very well find yourself playing against your customer’s best interests.
Seeking competitive differentiation through increasing uniqueness and complexity can be a deadly double-edged sword, especially if building that differentiation exceeds the needs and understanding of your customers. You and your competition may believe you have a high-value product or service, but if your customers can’t comprehend, calculate or measure that value, they see a sameness and will respond by ignoring the features they do not need or simply won’t care. However, they do understand cost. And there goes the downward spiral to commoditization.
As technology advances, so does the difficulty buyers have in making quality business decisions. Put yourself in your customer’s situation. How often have they made a decision regarding products such as yours? How similar are your products to your competitor’s? Can your customer truly understand and differentiate the unique value of your solution and not only how it impacts their job responsibility and performance, but also other responsibilities in their organization? Even more critically, can they understand the cost of their problem in absence of your solution?
This is how Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen traces the process: “When the performance of two or more competing products has improved beyond what the market demands, customers can no longer base their choice on which is the higher performing product. The basis of product choice often evolves from functionality to reliability, then to convenience, and, ultimately, to price.”
All indicators are showing us that customers are moving into what we call an “Era Three Market,” and solution providers are not doing a good job of keeping up. While providers are upping the ante and still attempting to align their solutions to what they believe about the customer’s situation, the customer is moving ahead and is allowed to make high-risk decisions based on what they do understand about their situation, your products and services, your competitors and their market. That is also a high-risk situation for you because in a complex selling environment, customers don’t necessarily fully comprehend the extent of their problems as it relates to the various solutions available, and their choices may be subjective or random at best.
So, if you truly have a unique and valuable solution, how can you get paid for the value you deliver?
First and foremost, get your mindset straight. Understand that we are moving into a new era of selling. Be open to the fact that traditional practices that may have helped you become successful in the past, for the most part will likely not work in this evolving market. Today’s market requires that organizations transform their approach from “purveyors of products” to “advisors to the customer’s business situation.”
Second, develop skills to communicate at a business and strategic level.
The customer’s desire to build tighter bonds with fewer vendors is adding complexity to the sales process. Buying decisions include more considerations and more players, and those players are often located at higher levels in the organization. In the complex sale, the search for a mythical buyer - “the decision maker” - is fruitless. Today the majority of decisions, quality decisions, are the result of a consensus building effort – an effort that the best of sales professionals orchestrates with multiple people either deciding on or influencing the decision to buy. It is your responsibility to manage the issues of the transaction from multiple perspectives. You must connect your unique value offer to each individual in the context of his or her job responsibilities and their own self-interest. Using the same approach from middle management up through the C-Level will prove to be futile.
Third, help customers connect value to business drivers.
Customers are also asking suppliers to add value at much deeper levels than they have traditionally delivered to their organizations.
Value can be defined as incremental results the customer is willing to pay for. Sales and marketing professionals know that they must be able to create value for their customers and they must be able to capture a reasonable share of that value for their company. Your customer’s business is constantly evolving and it is important to continually refine your value proposition, in the specific terms of each individual involved in the decision to buy. It is then critical to test that assumption against the scope of the specific customer’s situation. Determine to what degree your assumptions are correct. Then identify and quantify the impact of the absence of value. To the degree the assumptions are correct and the customer agrees, you will have the beginnings of value agreement with that customer.
Fourth, become business partners with your customers.
At the same time that customers are demanding commodity-based pricing, they are demanding more complex relationships with suppliers. They are drastically reducing their supply bases and asking the remaining vendors to take a more active role in their business process. They want those of you who are left to become business partners and open your organizations to them.
This shouldn’t be a daunting task. When you come to an understanding of the requirements within an Era Three Market and focus on the customer’s business situation and not on your own, your customers will start to recognize you as a unique and valuable partner.
We tend not to see the world through our customer’s eyes, but when we do, we find that they face many problems. Their business environments are more competitive than ever, technological advances are radically altering their industries and markets, and their margins for error are always shrinking. The oft-ignored reality of the complex sales environment is that our customers need help. They need help understanding the problems they face. They need help designing the optimal solutions to those problems, and they need help implementing those solutions.
It is your responsibility to advise your customers, give them a process to make quality decisions and help them succeed. Your competitive advantage will rapidly erode if you don’t take the critical steps to help them get there.
About the Author:
Jeff Thull (tool), the President and CEO of Prime Resource Group, a strategy and performance-consulting firm, has gained the reputation for being an expert in the arena of sales and marketing strategies for companies involved in complex sales.
Thull’s 23 years of real world experience has made him a leading authority and valued advisor for executive teams of major companies worldwide. He has designed, tested and proven transforming programs and solutions for companies like Shell Global Solutions, 3M, Microsoft, Citicorp, IBM, and Georgia-Pacific, as well as many fast track, start-up companies.
Thull is also a compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking keynote speaker with a track record of over 2,500 speeches and seminars to blue chip companies and associations around the world. Additionally, as a leading strategist, Thull’s work is published in hundreds of business and trade publications, including: Chief Learning Officer, Harvard Management Update, Velocity Magazine (SAMA), Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, Selling Power, Sales and Service Excellence, One to One Magazine, Business to Business Marketing, MarketingProfs.com, CEO Refresher, VAR Business, Management Consulting News, and many more.
For more information on how Jeff Thull and Prime Resource Group has helped organizations address this and other strategic sales and marketing issues, please contact: Prime Resource Group, 3655 Plymouth Blvd., Suite 110, Plymouth, MN 55446, support@primeresource.com, http://www.primeresource.com, 1.800.876.0378 or 763.473.7529, Fax: 763.473.0792
New Book To Be Released January 2005:
“The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale” (Dearborn Trade Publishing; January 2005; ISBN TBD; $24.95 hardcover).
Current Book:
“Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes are High!” (John Wiley & Sons; 2003; ISBN 047143516; $24.95).
9.0 Stellent & Land O'Lakes
http://www.storagepipeline.com/55801295
December 20, 2004
Land O'Lakes Unscrambles Enterprise Content
Management
Land O'Lakes, a national, farmer-owned, food and agricultural cooperative based in St. Paul, Minn., last year sold more than $6 billion worth of dairy and agricultural supply products. As with most companies, all these products and sales correspond to a potentially overwhelming flow of unstructured content—such as business documents, business records, Web content, images, E-mail, and accounts payable, credit, and human-resources information.
While our IT infrastructure is expansive and diverse, we're always looking for new ways to leverage it to manage our business-critical assets. One of the most vital components of our IT infrastructure is a content-management system from Stellent. We began working with Stellent in the late 1990s, when content management was in its infancy, and we've rolled out three major content-management initiatives since then, with more planned in the future.
Document management. When we selected Stellent to meet our document-management needs in 1998, we didn't know exactly what to expect because the technology was relatively new. We knew we needed to standardize documentation across our enterprise and gain control over how documents were created, maintained, and shared. We also needed enterprise software that was Web-based and would let us work with documents in their native formats.
Today, instead of circulating project documentation, charts, status reports, and requirements in hard-copy formats or via E-mail, employees can access this content from any computer with Web access. Employees appreciate the software's ability to enhance productivity and access to knowledge, because it integrates seamlessly with their daily work patterns. In addition, our IS group uses the software's document-management capabilities for disaster-recovery purposes, building a Web-based library full of business-continuation information.
Web content management. In 2001, we began using another component of the system. At that time, the manual process for updating our growing number of internal and external Web sites was no longer satisfactory, so we implemented a Web content-management solution designed to reduce IT bottlenecks, keep companywide information up-to-date, portray a consistent look and feel across Web properties, and enhance business-to-business communication.
Employees contribute content in native formats—such as a Microsoft Word document—and the software automatically converts it to HTML, PDF, or other Web-viewable formats. This process ensures that all Web content can be easily viewed across the company's intranets, extranets, and public-facing Web sites, and alleviates the manual publishing bottlenecks that previously hampered productivity and the ability to provide Land O'Lakes' constituents—whether on our intranet or business-to-business extranet—with information in a timely manner.
Document imaging. More recently, in 2003, we started using the system for document imaging. The business groups that most often worked with paper-based documentation or transactions—such as accounts payable, fixed assets, credit, and human resources—found it nearly impossible to quickly search for and retrieve microfilmed and hard-copy business-process documents.
This challenge prompted the implementation of a Web-based electronic imaging solution to improve employee productivity, facilitate audit requests, and reduce microfilming and hard-copy storage costs. The technology works in tandem with our PeopleSoft and Oracle ERP systems—ensuring that the same information can be accessed easily from either system at a later date. Land O'Lakes has experienced tangible business benefits from this deployment and has saved roughly $250,000 related to improved efficiencies and reduced staffing. In the future, we plan to scale the system across our enterprise, potentially leveraging the other components of the architecture to deal with digital-asset management, records management, business-process management, and collaboration.
Overall, the evolution of our content-management
infrastructure to encompass document management, Web content management, and
imaging has let us reap significant business benefits—from increased employee
productivity and access to knowledge, to reduced costs and improved business
processes. These are objectives at all companies, and a strong
content-management foundation can help achieve them consistently, well into the
foreseeable future.
Curt Doble is director of corporate application services at Land O'Lakes.
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