ECM equals GED in Brazil

It's easy to forget just how big the world is -- but when you fly to Brazil as I did this past week, you can get some idea: nine hours from Miami to Rio, and eight of those over Brazil. Brazil is one of the world's largest countries and one of its fastest-growing economies. Yet it's one we tend to simply associate with the Amazonian rainforest, and the equally beautiful Amazonians who decorate the beaches in Rio. The other side of Brazil of course is poverty, and even a brief walk around town will show you that in all its sad misery. As outsiders the poverty and conversely the vast landscape and oceanside glamour are typically all we see of Brazil.

Yet Brazil is a vibrant and growing nation, that has much to teach us, and just at the moment not that much to learn from us, particularly when it comes to ECM and Content Management. Or more correctly, GED (Gerenciamento Eletronico de Documentos) as ECM is called in Brazil. My last visit here was in 1999 to speak at Infoimagem in Sao Paulo, still one of the premier ECM events globally. At the time I was asked to speak on WCM (Web Content Management) and a lot of effort was put into the marketing my workshop. To cut a long story short, less than 5 people attended and the whole thing was a fiasco. The gap between the US/Europe and the adoption of new content technologies was just so big that not only did WCM not interest anyone in Brazil, they didn't really know what it was.

Fast forward to GED-Rio this year where I was honored to give the keynote speech, and the contrast could not have been sharper. At this event, it was I who was on the back foot at times, as smart and incredibly well-informed practitioners prodded and questioned me. In practical terms in 2008 there is no gap between Brazil and the rest of the ECM world. I initially wondered if this was because Europe and the US have not been advancing very quickly since 2001, and hence the gap has closed. But as time went on I realized the change was due to much more pragmatic and ultimately positive reasons, reasons that we might want to learn from.

Firstly, there has been over the last 15 years or so, a heavy focus on training ECM professionals in the country. Through the venerable CompTia CDIA courses, and more recently through AIIM training. Here in Brazil it seems that pretty much everyone who works in ECM has undertaken some kind of training and most carry their designations with pride. What a contrast from practitioners in most North American or European enterprises who seem to believe that specialist training is unnecessary and typically blame technology -- rather than their own failings -- for all the problems they encounter. In Brazil there is a healthy awareness that ECM is very complex, and that even elements such as scanning and imaging require specialized skills that are not best acquired on the fly. Brazil then has a very well trained and competent ECM workforce -- something in short supply north of the Equator.

This leads to a second healthy contrast, that of informed skepticism from buyers and users. After years of neglect and indifference by major North American & European suppliers, Brazilian buyers are not immediately enamored or taken in by the promise of new software and features. They have come to learn that it may be a long time before they see it for real, and that when they do, early adopters will have pointed out many inadequacies. The outcome is that we have a nation of conservative buyers who typically have a good understanding of the technical limitations, and consequently the savvy to budget accordingly to meet the true cost and complexity of business change and implementation services.

A greater focus on training and ECM-specific skills, alongside a more cautious and studious approach to product selection, such as we see in Brazil, would go a long way reducing the high number of failed projects we see in North America. We may not have noticed it yet, but the gap has all but closed, and its time for North America and Western Europe to start recognizing that nations like Brazil, China, and India have not only caught us up but have some valuable lessons to teach.

http://www.cmswatch.com/Trends/1259-ECM-equals-GED-in-Brazil