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EASY Software has launched a new community blog, TheDMCollaborators. Set to become the 'go to' resource for views, insights and updates for the UK Document Management sector, I'd like to take a little bit of your time to explain why we launched this initiative - and why we're so confident it'll be a popular resource for customers, suppliers and partners in this industry alike.

For a start, the site takes a fresh, occasionally critical, look at what the community sees as the industry drivers and challenges it faces, as well as providing independent, well-informed perspectives and opinions. Topics will range from scanning, capture and archive issues through to workflow, indexing, retrieval, ERP integration, SharePoint, enterprise content management - and all subjects in between that are of interest and relevance to this vital part of the information technology scene.

Standard document management subject matter, do I hear you say? Possibly, but it's going to be presented in such a way that it will grab you, and ideally get you interested in not just following these opinions but also joining in the debates shaping the future of the sector. Topics first up have included 'SharePoint: Has it Reached a 'Marmite' Moment?', 'What Is It Your FD Really Wants From You?', 'Is Document Management Right for 5 Year Olds?', and even 'The Sky Could Be The Limit, Yes; But Only If Your View Isn't 'Clouded''.

So far, it seems to have a created something of a stir - a stir we aim to build on. So why is this the future? First, because the content won't be promotional. After all people are, quite rightly, rather weary of being sold to by the tech industry. Remember the Millennium Bug and all the hyperbolic selling that came on the back of all that? Not a few FDs recall that, in the end, the Bug set to cause the collapse of global industry only caused minor disruption. Business customers are also right to feel a little bit cheated by any tech marketing initiatives that also promise to answer every maiden's prayer (Dot Com Bubble, anyone?).

That's why blogging, with its culture of directness, openness, a bit of realism and zero product promotion, is a very attractive source of trusted information for users - and why marketing brochures and websites can be a big turn off. By contrast, our new DM community forum has been set up to encourage participation from a wide range of contributors - none of whom will be engaging in any 'hard selling.'

CONTENT IS KING
Our blogging platform, TheDMCollaborators, features a wide range of guest bloggers, such as executives and company leaders from EASY partners like Cognite, Spigraph, Intelligent Filing, Touchstone, Fujitsu, Paper River, Destiny Wireless and Green Plane Solutions. While primarily concerned with providing a collaborative platform for the tech supplier community, we also plan to seek guest contributions from established industry pundits such as Document Manager magazine's very own Editor Dave Tyler and subject matter experts from AIIM Europe.

We also want the business user community - the customers and users of said technology - to bring their own stories to their forum, war stories or otherwise. Please note these may not always reflect well on the suppliers. Nonetheless, it is an important part of the appeal of a community blog like this that such openness is encouraged - that's what will keep visitors interested and returning after all. So participants have to be prepared that some comments may not always be wholly positive and roll with it. The upside: any positive comments they do receive will hold enormous weight in a readers' eyes, coming as they will from such a credible forum where openness is encouraged.

This brings me on to another reason why blogging may be the future. The kind of 'voice' such forums encourage - namely one that doesn't take itself too seriously and can encourage a bit of humour when discussing these important business issues has great appeal. People seem to expect and appreciate a more informal conversational and personality-laden form of communication these days, it seems to me. Look how different that style of interaction is to the days of speeds, feeds and brochureware with its formal and stuffy business-ese. Again, compare with the blogging forum - a place for sharing stories, experience, expertise and even a bit of the lighter side of business when appropriate.

THE BOOM IN BIG DATA
Finally, another trend this forum is also keying in to is Big Data. The ever-increasing volume and diversity of information in businesses today means the issues surrounding how you manage your documents are critical and of growing interest and relevance to businesses generally - thus, a document management, rather than a business community blogging forum per se, is in particular needed now. To sum up: that's why a forum like TheDMCollaborators is invaluable for CIOs and has got to be the way forward!

So, if you are an information management professional or a document management player of some kind, please come on over and check TheDMCollaborators out for yourself! And, if convinced, sign up to our community. Even if you don't join us - from now on always think blogs, not brochures, when considering how best to communicate and market to your customers.
More info: thedmcollaborators.com