Ganesh Vednere has been working in the content and records management space for a number of years. He has been involved in all aspects of content and records management programs including strategy, policy, compliance, records retention research and technology implementation. He is on the board of the AIIM Garden State Chapter

Infonomics: I can vouch first-hand for your writing ability, what lead you to want to write the article series for AIIM E-DOC Magazine and the other writing you do – for AIIM and elsewhere?

Vednere: As an information and records management practitioner, one of the things that strikes me about this field is just the wealth of information that people have and are willing to share with each other on a daily basis across company and industry lines. I am always pleasantly surprised to see someone post a query on one of the forums and within a short period of time there are multiple responses providing practical advice, how-to’s, been-there-done-that tips.  My first series of articles was published by Bryant Duhon for Infonomics (then called AIIM E-Doc Magazine) and soon I received several commendations, suggestions for improvement, and feedback and that just amazes me even today. Someone even emailed with a suggestion for a topic that they would like to hear about.  This has been immensely gratifying to me both on a personal and professional level and I hope to develop more articles in the future.

Infonomics: Your career trajectory has steadily narrowed to focus on RM. Was that a conscious decision or did it sorta just happen?

Vednere: My foray into the field of information management was somewhat gradual.  My background is in technology and I initially started out as a development manager/architect working on couple of projects using Java and other tools.  I got involved on a project that was implementing document management for a large financial company. There I saw firsthand and learned about the principles (and importance) of proper information management and what it takes to go from a high level design to successful user adoption of the system. Subsequent projects took me from the full lifecycle of the documents and records management including policies, procedures, compliance, systems development to deployment. These days more and more organizations and governmental agencies are looking to this field to help them with both compliance and operational efficiencies. I strongly believe that the future of information management will be as exciting as ever with new ways to manage information and better automation.

Infonomics: What do you like best about the ECM/RM industry?

Vednere: For me, the best part of being in the ECM/RM industry is the chance to closely see both sides of the business and IT with a layer of compliance on top.  I have seen organizations where business, IT, and compliance really come together to implement some really good practices and controls on managing their documents and records. I have also seen the disappointment on the part of business when systems did not behave the way they wanted; the “throwing up their hands” on the part of IT when business manages to bypass IT to get what they wanted; to the fear on the part of compliance and legal teams that somehow/somewhere things are not what they should be. All of this makes this field, if I may be indulged, a “fun” field.
 
Infonomics: Why do you participate in the AIIM chapters?

Vednere: I truly believe, all clichés aside, that the heart and soul of our association resides in its chapter. From some of the very active chapters here in the US and many internationally, each and every chapter is striving to fulfill AIIM goals, which is to provide education, research, and best practices to help organizations find, control, and optimize their information.  Many chapters have had members who have been in this industry for most of their working lives and the stories and experience they share make our chapters so unique.  Where else could you attend a chapter meeting, where the guest speaker happens to be the same person who authored a textbook now used as a standard reference on records management.  Also it is so rewarding to see new information and record managers join the chapter, start to navigate through this field, and within a short period of time become experts in their own right.

Infonomics: You’ve an AIIM ERM master. What’s the value of AIIM education?

Vednere: The AIIM training programs are unique in the sense that they blend both theory and practice.  The course contents are not just a “copy/paste” from standards or textbooks and contain some pretty valuable practical guidance collected from industry experts. I still refer to the course material that I got from the ERM class I attended and find it a great reference point when responding to queries on records management principles.  Another key value of AIIM education is that it brings together attendees from business, legal, compliance, and technology into a classroom setting and allows attendees to discuss, share, and learn from each other and the instructor. The certification exam itself required both the class material and one’s own experience to come up with the right answer to the questions. I think individuals in this field should give some serious thought to the many benefits of going through a 4-day AIIM class.

Interview conducted by Bryant Duhon, editor, Infonomics Weekly.