I just returned from two of the first RSA Archer Roadshows. On Tuesday I was in the great city of Minneapolis and quickly flew to DC for the event on Wednesday. Both sessions had a great turnout and served to educate existing and potential customers on the capabilities of Archer. With plenty of time scheduled for networking, customer use cases, and product news, the events were definitely worth attending and I was able to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen since the Summit.
Throughout all of the interesting presentations from users I heard one recurring theme: Make it easier! Every amazing success story of Archer implementations in organizations of all types and sizes came with a lesson learned or feedback that was common among all six sessions. “Our users want a more intuitive experience with less clicks.” “We implemented Archer to make our business processes simpler, yet we get pushback on the user experience daily.” “Why is there still an Apply Button?” It was a message that many of us Archer practitioners had experienced ourselves over the years, yet had come to accept as an unavoidable cost of using a very powerful GRC tool.
“Simplify, Simplify.”
H.D. Thoreau
“One ‘simplify’ would have sufficed”
Ralph Waldo Merson, In response
These concerns were addressed, however, when RSA made the biggest revelation of the Roadshow with details on Version 6.0. All of the improvements we got an early glimpse of focus on an enhanced user experience and an improved interface. The screenshots alone prompted smiles and whispers of “Finally”, and we left really excited about the future.
It’s hard to get large organization to go with you on a GRC journey and everything we can do to limit the impact on our stakeholders and improve their experience with the tool helps. Through the awesome Community idea submission site and events like the Roadshows, Archer has always listened to customers and has sought to implement the features the users want. I’m excited to be attending the other roadshows in Boston and New York in the next few weeks to see what others think of the future ahead for eGRC.