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Delivering change, changing perception

In what is probably going to be the last post before the BIALL Conference starts "properly" tomorrow the BIALL blogger asked Catherine Kenwright about her session. Called "Delivering change, changing perception" the session will look at how Irwin Mitchell and Lexis Nexis embarked on a firm wide initiative to deliver a comprehensive integrated knowledge solution into Irwin Mitchell.

BB -Firstly congratulations on winning the IT Project of the Year at the Know List Awards 2010, could you describe (briefly) what you do at Irwin Mitchell?

CK - My current role is to Head of Learning, Records and Knowledge Management. This includes firm wide services across the business in these three critical areas. I have been with IM since 1996 when I was appointed as their Library Manager.

BB - The project you've worked on with LexisNexis sounds really interesting, did you approach LexisNexis initially or was it the other way around?

CK - The project was very much a partnership. I wanted to move away from just being sold a series of products and services out of the box and Lexis Nexis were looking at working with firms in more innovative ways. Ultimately we are both here to grow and increase revenue in our respective businesses so it was about finding a way to do that together.

BB - Change is a big word (although it's actually only 6 letters) which many people view with some trepidation/fear. Was changing peoples behaviours the biggest challenge or were there other more significant challenges?

CK - We didn?t need to change behaviours significantly because the systems allowed us to deliver solutions seamlessly without unduly affecting how people did their jobs ? this was a critical part of the success of the project.

BB -Without giving too much away about your session, how is your solution different from say a Portal which integrates a number of different content sources including external sources?

CK - It?s a seamless approach aimed at connecting information to the user where the user is most likely to use it

BB - Finally, I believe you've spoken at a couple of Conferences this year, what advice would you give to someone about to present for the first time? I still get very nervous when I am presenting so that never really goes away.

CK - The best advice I can give is be prepared and know what you want to say before you get up there but be too rigid in your delivery. Also if you are rubbish at telling jokes (I am) then don?t bother. We can?t all be Peter Kay!

Plenty to mull over there, especially the advice about not trying to be Peter Kay! This certainly sounds like it will be an interesting session. Many thanks to Catherine and all the presenters who have very kindly agreed to answer questions about their sessions, now all we have to do is wait for the Conference to start!

Full post as published by The BIALL Blog on June 09, 2010 (boomark / email).