Updates and Insights from Ripcord

Founded in the late 19th century, the University of California Los Angeles is the most applied-to university in the U.S. , annually receiving more than 100,000 applications from would-be undergraduate students. Yet in recent years, it has been the school's highly sought-after PhD programs that have been a source of considerable document generation -- and a repository of trapped, potentially valuable data and information.  

When independent oil-and-gas operator Cantium engaged Ripcord in 2017,  it had recently acquired two of the largest oilfields ever to undergo development off the Gulf of Mexico. Along with the underwater acreage, the company also inherited mountains of paperwork, some of it dating back to the Cold War years. 

In the past year, risk management and compliance, significant challenges for organizations of all sizes and across industries, have become even more difficult to navigate. Since the start of the 2020 global pandemic, distributed teams, the inability to interact in-person, the adoption of new institutional practices, and more have meant companies and their customers alike have had to pivot and adapt. 

Like it or not, organizations that wish to become and/or stay successful in their fields in the next decade will need to get aboard the digital transformation train. A large part of said transformation must take place first and foremost in a business or other entity's culture, and that's a shift that's often easier announced than accomplished. 

A lot changed in 2020. The ways in which we work, socialize, and learn are just a few of the newly altered aspects of daily life. But in 2021, even more changes will come.

As a business manager or owner, you may be wondering if it's time to upgrade your organization's legacy enterprise content management system. Perhaps you were the one to lead the charge in getting it implemented a decade or more ago, or perhaps you took great pains to learn its ins and outs. Whether you were instrumental in choosing and using it or not, you are likely sure that ditching it in favor of a new system is not a simple undertaking. 

When Jeff Kiske told his father that his deep-learning company, Engine ML, was being acquired by digital-transformation leader Ripcord, he recognized there was a certain amount of irony in the situation. Kiske's father owns a printing company in St. Louis, where Kiske, Ripcord's new director of machine learning systems, grew up.

Much has been written about the need for organizations to embrace digital transformation. But here's the question. What do you do once you've taken steps to go digital? How can you ensure that you get the most from your transformation journey and make it, not a destination in itself, but a roadway that leads to something even better?