Gather-Decide-Act: Three Business Process Case Studies That Transform Data Collection Into Inspired Action

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On the 28th-29th April 2016, I attended the Digital Workplace Conference in Melbourne.  Here are my notes & thoughts about one of the sessions.

Session: Gather-Decide-Act: Three Business Process Case Studies That Transform Data Collection Into Inspired Action

Speaker: Mike Fitzmaurice - @MikeFitz

Session Takeaways:
  • Simple solutions using SharePoint lists and Nintex Forms to gather data easily
  • Nintex Forms allow you to fill out forms in offline mode on a mobile device  
  • Offline mode works like your email outbox.  It holds onto the data until there is an internet connection
  • Mike's theory is that if you show a company how to collect data with a simple form, they will see the value of the solution & be inspired to act on building solutions for their other problems
  • Tip: make data collection as simple as possible.  Don't build complicated forms
  • Nintex Workflow also has the functionality to generate contract documents using the data captured within online forms
  • Nintex Workflow can use Docusign to sign said auto-generated contacts as well!
My Musings:
  • Using Nintex Forms across multiple devices requires you to build multiple templates.  Which is fine until an update to a form needs to be rolled out across all devices.  Not a single form template that is responsive across all devices.
  • Can't believe Mike refused to click the 'update' button on his office suite mid-session! ;)
  • +1 for telling the Stone Soup story.
Rating: 4/5 Stone Soups

Reasoning:  Despite the projector difficulties at the start, Mike was a cool, calm & humorous speaker that gave simple examples of how to collect data across multiple devices using a single tool, Nintex Forms & Workflow.

I was personally hoping for a little more on the 'Inspired Action' part of the session (e.g. how do you convince a company to act on the data they collect).  My experience has shown the 'build it & they will come' mantra is true, but inspiring the business to utilise that data & act upon it does not happen without a lot of hand holding.

My understanding is Mike would have gone into further detail had he had more time, but that's the only reason I couldn't give this session full marks!

Agree or Disagree?  Please feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments below!

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