Electronic Document Management (EDM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is at the heart of dematerialization. It requires strong expertise and the ability to propose, deploy and evolve high-performance solutions. Technical audits play an essential role in these processes.
An overview with Billy Khoumri, EDM / ECM Solutions Architect, and Thomas Soccol, Commercial Director at Océane Consulting Data Management who rely in particular on their experience with universities and major educational institutions.
Could you briefly go back over your professional background? Howdoes one become an expert in very specialized technologies and solutions?
Billy - I joined the Océane Consulting Group in 2013 and have held the position of Architect at Océane Consulting Data Management for several years. I started my professional career in 2005 as a Study and Development Engineer after obtaining a Master's degree in Computer Science. I quickly became a technical reference on integration projects, particularly around Nuxeo and Liferay solutions.
Today I have a cross-functional role in the company, sharing my feedback with the teams on the Rennes technical platform and the Project Management Department. I actively participate in the pre-sales phase, which is an essential moment to respond effectively to a client and therefore provide the means to build a lasting and trusting relationship with them. I also closely monitor the key stages of projects carried out by the platform. I also manage partnerships within the Technical Department and participate in building new specific offerings. To become an expert in a technology and/or solution, you must start by seizing opportunities, making it your own, being curious, constantly expanding your comfort zone and persevering.
What are your areas of expertise and preference?
B - From a strictly technical point of view, I have a preference for and good command of JAVA and SOA microservices (Service Oriented Architecture).
My areas of expertise over the last ten years are undoubtedly Electronic Document Management (EDM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and, to a lesser extent, collaborative portals.
EDM / ECM is a vast topic that covers the entire document chain: scanning, email, character recognition, intelligent classification, indexing, search, signature, distribution, archiving... to name but a few.
Over time, I have developed strong expertise around the Nuxeo product. I handle architecture, deployment and configuration issues for the Nuxeo product. And also version upgrades, data migration or performance audit issues.
Finally, I conduct Nuxeo training sessions internally or externally with our clients.
What are the major challenges your clients face and what types of assignments and projects do you work on?
B- The first recurring issue concerns the question of volume, with document volumes that often become too large for the architecture initially put in place. Over the years, thousands or millions of documents are poured into the Nuxeo solution, resulting in performance degradation (longer response times), degradation of search result relevance, indexing errors, and overly complex management of document access permissions.
In such cases, we propose a technical audit to identify bottlenecks and failing elements. Subsequently, we propose a support service with the aim of modernizing the current architecture by introducing, for example, the concept of scalability. Scalability is the ability to manage multiple nodes via multiple EDM / ECM servers, which facilitates the addition or removal of a node.
The second recurring issue concerns Nuxeo version upgrades that become too demanding. For reasons of cost and implementation effort, many clients keep a Nuxeo version for far too long and delay launching version upgrade projects. Until the situation becomes difficult to manage and clients ask us to help them modernize the EDM / ECM solution in place. The intervention is of course possible but it becomes complex and tedious. For example, I am currently working with a client using a version of Nuxeo dating from 2013.
Our support method in these cases is to carry out the version upgrade, but we must go beyond that by reducing the complexity of custom developments, eliminating unused or obsolete features and moving configuration elements into the Nuxeo Studio tool. Each time, case-by-case elements and specificities are added that require custom solutions.
How does a technical audit work with a prospective client? Can youdescribe this key step for us?
B - For a prospective client who wishes to entrust us with the maintenance and evolution of their EDM / ECM solution, we recommend starting with a 4 to 5-day technical audit.
During this technical audit, our role is to assess the quality of documentation, to evaluate the production architecture, to identify non-compliance with the publisher's standards and recommendations, and finally to identify gaps and technical debt that hinder the performance of the existing solution.
This key audit step allows us to assess the future service, to see where we are committing and gives the client a clear vision of the situation. The quality of the audit will also demonstrate in advance the quality of our expertise and services. This is how a relationship of trust can be established from the start.
Do you see yourself as an evangelist in your profession and in your expertise?
B - As a member of the Technical Department, I would say rather that my role is to share knowledge and feedback with platform staff and the Project Management Department to guide them in their assignments. We must be educational and persuasive to encourage colleagues to standardize their working methods, tools and offer them new perspectives.
How do you manage technological watch?
B - Technological watch is essential and daily for anyone who directs their career in a technical or technological field. It is inherent to our professions, it is like professional hygiene.
As a member of the Technical Department, I conduct this technological watch on each pre-sales topic I handle. Partnerships between Océane Consulting Data Management and Nuxeo and other solution publishers are also valuable sources of technological watch as they allow us to closely follow releases, developments and technical choices by publishers.
I regularly discover new concepts, new APIs (Application Programming Interface), new protocols and sometimes new architectures.
You frequently work with universities or major educational institutions.
Can you explain to us why and how these structures have significant needs in terms of dematerialization?
B - This is first and foremost a desire of the Ministry of National Education, and it is probably a similar approach for all Ministries. Schools and universities must reduce the use of paper, whether for school documents (certificates of enrollment, report cards, internship agreements...) or administrative documents (purchase orders, invoices, contracts, mission orders...). For example, we recently supported the Toulouse veterinary school in equipping itself with electronic signature and digital safes. Each student thus has their own secure space, accessible via an application on their mobile phone.
These institutions can benefit from ministerial subsidies for any project that falls within the scope of Electronic Administration or e-administration.
How does Océane Consulting Data Management adapt to the specific requirements of major schools and universities?
B - To reduce the costs of implementing an EDM / ECM in major schools and universities, we decided to offer them a specific package for document and process dematerialization. This offering includes installation of the Nuxeo platform, training on the Nuxeo product and support in implementing a dematerialization process. In this context, we emphasize standardization of architecture and platforms and exclusive use of Nuxeo Studio for specific configurations of each institution.
What do you like about Océane Consulting Data Management? How do you explain the seniority of some employees?
B - We are a company and a team of 40 people with human scale where expertise is strong and interaction is daily. We are almost all at the same level, so we are far from a bureaucratic system leaning towards verticality. Each employee can provide assistance on any study topic, expertise or to resolve an incident with a client. This is the strength of Océane Consulting Data Management.
Regarding seniority, I myself am one of the "long-timers". The internal organization of the development platform, structured in technical departments with technical specialists in each department, allows each employee to find their place, easily identify the skills of each person and find support if necessary. It is thanks to this organization that teams are sustainable.
" WE ADAPT OUR EXPERTISE TO EACH CLIENT "
Speaking to Thomas Soccol, Commercial Director at Océane Consulting Data Management.
How do you explain Océane Consulting Data Management's ability to find and recruit experts capable of responding to such specific issues?
Thomas Soccol - As a Pure Player in Dematerialization & Digitalization, we are identified and recognized on the market as experts in this field. Candidates and technical experts are looking above all for companies like Océane Consulting Data Management capable of offering them projects or assignments linked to their areas of expertise, whether technical or functional. Through our organization, we also have the ability to oversee and support them in the long term in developing their skills.
Can you describe the process of developing a commercial offer at OCDM? Are there very different scenarios?
TS - The scenarios are relatively different depending on the client's typology and their progress in terms of dematerialization and digitalization. The client will require more or less support and change management depending on their profile and criteria.
The offer or commercial approach will be different, for example, if it is a private or public sector organization. We adapt our expertise to each client to be as close as possible to their request and provide them with the most optimal and best-performing solutions possible.
