Kind of a big deal...

I did an interview a while back with University Business magazine in conjunction with our Corporate PR. It looks like they published the article, entitled The ABCs of ECM (Electronic Content Management - what I do for Xerox) and the article had some quotes from me, most of which I probably even said. I got the magazine in the mail, opened it up, quickly looked at it, didn't see any reference to me and I threw it in the trash pile. Cathie hapened to grab it, looked at it (did I mention I'm not a detail person) and found my name, so I re-read it and found the following gems:

Most company representatives assure IHEs that enterprise content management is the right solution for any need and any size. Dave Kurt, a Managing Principal with Xerox's Business Process Services Division, knows better. He's found that very decentralized campuses where every department literally has its own budget wind up with disconnected components that make it tough to justify the overall picture.

Some university administrators still insist on paper trails, claiming that ECM is merely a way to manage scanned documents in a digital file room. "You really lose a lot of the benefits," Kurt insists, "so it's not a good fit." Ditto if other departments have no intention of adding anything to the file after a student enrolls.

"The people who were supposed to be approving the applications were spending their time telling students why their applications were late and when it would be done," says Dave Kurt, a managing principal in the business process services division at Xerox. At Park, its ECM solution reduced application time to an average of 2.5 days, put status reports online, and reduced phone call time from 17 minutes per application to 3 minutes when the student chose to pick up the phone instead of the keyboard. That, in turn, boosted class enrollment from 70 percent capacity to between 90 and 100 percent. According to Kurt, Park University ultimately added roughly $1 million in additional revenue streaming in every single term.

But before you finish the final tally, don't forget the cost avoidance factor. For instance, noncompliance in admissions for international students carries stiff penalties in an audit, Kurt points out. ECM is like an insurance policy to keep you right with the Patriot Act.

(Note that the article included more than just me, and my name was not bolded, but should have been. I would be glad to provide autographed copies to friends and family members)

Being a though leader is not an easy job, but one I take very seriously. As Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility”.