May/June 2009

Quick question: What sort of electric “green-car” technology should America embrace? Which is the greenest?

There are four current choices:

1. Gas/electric hybrids, like the Toyota Prius. Very practical and can work in almost any vehicle; downside: still burn lots of gasoline.
2. The plug-in hybrid. Check out www.calcars.org/vehicles.html . A hybrid you can plug in overnight and store enough power to take you back and forth to work and go on shorter trips. But like model 1, you still have a backup gas engine. Also check out www.BYD.com and prepare to have your mind blown. This is a Chinese auto maker that plans to take over the world with plug-ins. Take note of this company; Warren Buffett did and recently pumped $232 million into it. But also understand that much of the electricity stored in those batteries will come from power plants, many burning coal.
3. The all-electric car. Tesla motors (www.teslamotors.com ) and others are already making them. Tesla's are sleek and sexy but very expensive and require a minimum of 45 minutes to charge—and they have no backup gas engine. And all of their electricity comes from power plants.
4. This one combines all-electric cars with a global infrastructure of “battery-charge spots” in concert with robotized “battery switch stations” where you would exchange your spent battery for a fully-charged one in minutes. Don’t laugh; investors have already poured $300 million into the concept of “Better Place.” It’s the brainchild of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Shai Agassi. Read more at www.betterplace.com or www.cbsnews.com.

So: Which is the greenest? In my opinion? All of them. Which should we embrace? All of them—because all can and will help to get us where we need to go. And because we can’t possibly tell at this juncture what will ultimately prove to be the optimal approach.

I bring this up because it bears great relevance to going green at your enterprise. Where to begin? Where to start? The answer: anywhere. You’ll read a lot inside this magazine about some highly ambitious initiatives that can be overwhelming when you’ve got to squeeze every dollar to death. So don’t go big. Start small, and pluck the overhanging fruit. Follow the path of least resistance. Start where it’s easiest to start!

But this just might also be the time for larger investments, not in spite of the recession, but because of it.

As you’ll read on page 41, one global financial services organization relocated insurance administration to a central area rather than at branch offices and used imaging to eliminate paper files and provide online access to information with a portal for branches. The company achieved a 100-percent return on investment in eight months and saved $3.6 million in paper and copying costs in one year!

But back to that overhanging fruit: You can help Infonomics go green by subscribing to our digital magazine at www.infonomicsmag.com/subscribe . How are you going green?

How are you making a difference at your own company? We’d love to hear about it. Send me an email and we’ll run your letter in the next issue of this magazine.

Benjamin L. Herring is the editor-in-chief of Infonomics.

By now, most of you are familiar with Little Things Can Make a Big Difference .

In June 2007, my colleague Atle Skjekkeland and I decided to venture into the social networking waters by setting up Facebook pages. (See “My Daughter is Horrified: YOU’RE on Facebook??!!).

Early on, there were only a few of us nonstudent types on Facebook and as my daughter’s reaction indicates, we were considered somewhat questionable. We were grateful to find ANYONE to join our friends list, no matter how far removed they were from actual friendship. But now many of my colleagues from AIIM are on Facebook.

People from church are on Facebook. For heaven’s sake, my brothers and sisters announced at Christmas that THEY were on Facebook. Long lost friends from Ramapo High School and William & Mary are on Facebook. My Mom is making noises about getting on Facebook. When this last point is actually reached, it could very well be a Sign of The Apocalypse.

On the AIIM side, a couple of data points. My Digital Landfill blog (just search “Digital Landfill” to find it) has become one of the more popular blogs in the enterprise content management space (thank you readers, for putting up with me).

Our industry standards groups regularly use wikis to streamline the creation of standards and best practices. The AIIM Linkedin group has 5,240 members. AIIM’s exclusive “InformationZen ” social networking site now has 3,229 members and the quality and quantity of the discussions is improving by the day.

I have even seen the light with regards to the business networking implications of Twitter (follow me at jmancini77).

We (AIIM) are in the middle of building out the most powerful IT infrastructure we’ve ever had—thanks to the largest investment in a decade. It includes a new web content management system that will bring together all of the above with our website into a single platform that will become THE community for this industry.

In thinking about what comes next and what is needed to truly push all this over the edge I come back to Gladwell.

Gladwell notes that Tipping Points are usually driven by the usual 80/20 rule – 80 percent of the work and value is driven by 20 percent of the participants. Three kinds of people are needed among this 20 percent for a movement to “go viral.”

Connectors. These are people with a special gift for bringing people together. They typically have an extended social network and are good at the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon thing.

Mavens. These people have the gift of knowledge in a particular area and are willing to share that knowledge. They take pleasure in providing information to help others solve their problems.

Salesmen. These people are good persuaders with powerful communication skills. They also have strong negotiation skills and are good at convincing others to get involved.

I’m looking for Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. I know we’ve got many of these folks out there in our extended community; I’ve met many of you! And as we begin to shape the “new AIIM” and build an entirely new and exciting grassroots online community, we need your help. I’m looking for leaders.

Don’t worry about exactly what that involvement might look like at this point. The pay is the usual for a volunteer organization–many kudos and the gratitude of the community at large. Send me an email  if you’d like to get involved. Tell me what you’d like to do. We’ll figure it out.

John F. Mancini is president of AIIM . He can be reached on Facebook, InformationZen, and Linkedin, or followed on Twitter at jmancini77. His blog is Digital Landfill .