Member Profile – Eddy Frost

Direction: Can you briefly describe your business background?

Eddy: I’m an IT guy who’s more interested in creating solutions for people than technology itself. After getting my Bachelor’s degree in Biology in the UK, I started with IBM, moving into the City of London in programming, then systems administration, and finally tech support. As I became more interested in the application of technology, I moved into customer service, sales, and then business consulting. I’ve worked for what is now Azur Group for 16 years, specializing in document management solutions specific to policies and procedures. Our Trove™ and Deployer™ solutions have around half a million end-users worldwide, and we are a Microsoft Gold Partner. As a volunteer in our SIG, I also administer the P&P list-serve and membership.

Direction: Tell us about your work – responsibilities, challenges.

Eddy: I do two jobs. I spend about a third of my time managing Azur’s US operations – a great team of highly talented professionals working throughout the US. It’s a tight, busy team and they are a joy to work with. Having said that, I really get my energy from the other two thirds of my time: working with P&P professionals in every sector: healthcare, financial, government, retail and occasionally manufacturing, too. In a typical year, I work with about 40 new companies while managing accounts for 20 major accounts. It’s a busy life, and I count on my team a lot. My responsibility is to proactively ensure that each company has the best control and management of their policies and procedures, drawing from Azur’s and Microsoft’s technology.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The challenge is to really come alongside people and understand their world, their challenges. My satisfaction comes from seeing the difference that well-applied technology can make to people’s lives.

Direction: Tell us about your audience.

Eddy: I spend most of my time working with people in hospitals and banks. Both are highly regulated markets where regulations change every week, and liability for non-compliance is a big deal. P&P professionals normally have to deal with this and overwhelming work loads on a tight budget and often with a low profile in their organizations. It’s a real challenge for them, and therefore for me. Success is all about achieving control and empowering the Subject Matter Experts so that work loads remain do-able and corporate compliance is achieved.

Direction: What do you like most about your job?

Eddy: Primarily: people. Technical Communication – especially P&P, is all about people and processes. If you don’t like people, then this is probably not the world to be in! Secondarily, I love technology that just works; never for its own sake, but when it works for the people and the organization. I think that our world is heavy with technology that is often bewildering and hard to live with. I really enjoy implementing P&P systems that work simply and well.

Direction: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into P&P documentation?

Eddy: Be customer-centric in your thinking, always. Join the STC P&P SIG and develop a mentoring relationship with the best people who will have you. Also: think like you own the business.

Direction: What’s the biggest P&P challenge that you face in your industry or specialty?

Eddy: In the technology world, things change all the time, but after 20+ years in the industry I know that there is really nothing very new under the sun. Each wave of technology is about doing the same thing better. The real challenge is to never be driven by the technology, but always by the business need.

Direction: Can you tell us a bit of personal information about you?

Eddy: My wife Linda and I live in a beautiful New Hampshire log cabin with two Tonkinese cats. Our two sons are in college in Massachusetts. All four of us (not the cats) are applying for U.S. citizenship this year. I love old motorcycles, old guitars and work weekends as a lay pastor for my church. It’s a wonderful life!

Eddy Frost is General Manager, Azur Group Inc., providers of document management solutions to the policies and procedures community in the USA, UK and Ireland. Visit www.AzurGroupinc.com. To contact Eddy, email him: Eddy Frost.