Peer to Peer Magazine

29 WWW.ILTANET.ORG A Firm Investment in Going Fully Digital CASE STUDIES savings in supplies and storage, but savings also accrued from being able to task these functions correctly. My initial return on investment (ROI) analysis budgeted $400,000 to go completely electronic (hardware, soware, etc.). In the analysis, we projected we would meet our ROI in 1.5 years. By our January 2015 deadline, we exceeded our ROI in 67 percent of the time projected and spent only half of our budget. Most recently, we captured even more savings — both long- and short-term — when Lindquist moved offices at the end of 2016. Because we are fully digital, we were able to allocate a scant two filing cabinets per aorney for the new office space; this was a one-time, though significant, savings of $400k in cost avoidance. We were able to measure a steep decline in copy machine use and decided to shi our reliance on copy machines to much less expensive convenience scanners — capturing $40k annually for the firm. Most significant to note, while our original move plan required four full floors of office space, we were able to be fully accommodated in 3.5 floors — a difference of $285,000 per year. This means we are saving $335k per year, in addition to the one-time savings of $400k. Our digital efforts achieved improved information governance processes along with significant hard-dollar savings. P2P We are saving $335k per year, in addition to the one-time savings of $400k. Need Something in a Hurry? Ask Your Vendor About Their Processes by Howard Russell of RBRO Solutions Organizations are continually searching for the right people and the right tools. Integration projects hoping to fill business needs through customization or out-of-the-box solutions that approximate desired workflows are in abundance. When it comes to dealing with their vendors' processes, decision-makers oen sele for whatever the vendor tells them rather than making sure that process serves the company. There are questions you need to ask your vendor to ensure you get what you need, rather than end up fiing into their box. Whom Does the Process Serve? A few years ago, a client submied a high-priority ticket to support on an issue that could affect the clients' business operations quickly and negatively. Our soware was not the cause of their problem, but a slight modification to some code could provide a solution. The client was in a hurry, so user stories were wrien, test plans were developed and validated, and the solution was assigned a timeline. Sounds good, right? Wrong! The needed change was clear to everyone, and it affected only a few lines of code. If we had stepped back and done a reasoned assessment of the situation, we could have taken a different –– and much quicker –– path. However, our team was following procedure: » Assess the issue » Document features » Develop reusable test plans, etc. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the formal process is needed to avoid disaster, especially in complex, high-volatility situations. In a case like this, though, the process served no one, and our team would have been beer off quickly making the needed code changes, validating the function in an environment that approximated the client's specific use-case and helping the client out. As soon as the client's emergency has been overcome, a well-disciplined team would return to their process by documenting what they had just done and implementing long-term mechanisms for quality. A deployment team should caution the client to limit themselves to the given use-case until a proper update is released. Everybody is happy! The unfortunate truth is that many customers accept the timeline they are given and retreat to their private frustration while disaster swirls around them. I encourage anyone seeking emergency assistance to ask about your vendor's process. If it sounds like the process will not serve you or them, why not suggest a change? The right questions on the front end may serve you well. Of course, you must be willing to evaluate and accept the risks associated with diverging from standard procedure. However, if risks are managed well, you stand to reap the greatest benefit from a successful outcome. P2P

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