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Business drivers for records management Today’s complex business environments generate numerous challenges for both management and employees. Fast-paced changes in office technologies, changing governmental mandates and global competition create both obstacles and opportunities.
However, a common aspect of all business environments is the constant demand for ontime access to data, information and documentation. Informational business records are needed for operational guidance, reporting to auditors, documentation of intellectual capital, evidence in litigation and a variety of other tactical and strategic drivers. Business records with critical informational content must be locatable and retrievable quickly and accurately. Otherwise lost productivity, public embarrassment and damaged financial status may result. Of equal importance is the transition of most enterprises today from sifting through piles of paper to managing gigabytes of data. This shift creates a mandate for an enterprise to control and manage its office.
Information is one of the most vital strategic and operational assets of organizations. Organizations depend on information to make critical strategic decisions, protect contractual rights, support innovation, develop products, deliver services, drive marketing, process transactions, serve customers, and generate revenue. This essential information is contained in business documents, or records. Business records need to be effectively managed. Senior executives ultimately are responsible for the prudent stewardship of corporate assets. Yet many companies today lack effective policies and procedures to control, manage, preserve and retrieve critical corporate records and other business documents. Consequently, they waste valuable time searching for information when it is needed, risk severe penalties and loss of corporate reputation for non-compliance with records-related regulations and legal statutes, keep some records too long, spend too much for storage, and too often fail to protect mission-critical information from loss or destruction.
Because operational effectiveness is a concern for shareholders, customers, and Boards of Directors it is incumbent on Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to be fully aware of their current corporate records practices, requirements, and known gaps in meeting goals. Effective enterprise strategies must be in place to assure that information assets are well managed. Records management is outside the line of business functions and core competencies of most organizations. Therefore, companies wishing to adhere to recognized best practices increasingly turn to third party solution providers with professional records management experience and expertise.
Without such external professional assistance, organizations must bear the direct cost of internal development including the required expertise, facilities or equipment for the development of records management programs and solutions.
The business risks associated with poorly managed information resources are substantial and increasing. Unfortunately, when information management issues are covered by the news media, it often is in a highly negative context. For example, when Arthur Andersen was implicated in the accounting irregularities related to Enron, the headlines did not cover that Arthur Andersen had the foresight to have a records retention schedule and records management program. The headlines did, however, cover extensively the use of shredders and allegations of intentional spoliation of evidence. When public records used by state governments that must be made available to the public cannot be located, allegations of misconduct may arise quickly. And when small sets of emails mysteriously disappear in any organization, there can be an assumption of spoilation – that someone has tampered with the email system and has intentionally deleted potentially incriminating evidence.
Information management typically is one of the largest overhead burdens of an organization. The creation of correspondence, reports, brochures, forms and graphic materials can be highly expensive due to both the cost of materials and labor. Now that much of this information flow must occur within computer systems and networks, the incremental cost of performing daily tasks continues to grow. At the same time it becomes critical to have well-run information systems that support an organization’s business goals. Should an organization’s loss of information become publicly disclosed, the financial impact in lost customers and public confidence can be immense. These dangers are especially true for financial services, insurance and data management businesses where customer loyalty often correlates to perceived organizational trustworthiness and reliability.
The electronic information glut that affects organizations makes it increasingly difficult to establish which information is of sufficient value for long term retention. For this reason, it is challenging to differentiate data, files, and documents that should be discarded early in the information life cycle from official records.
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