Opinion

posted on 08 May 2008 13:55

Hywel Benjamin of Iron Mountain’s Records Compliance Unit has written this opinion piece. He says that strategic document management is critical, both to business continuity and to business success. See if you agree.

Document management is suddenly on government, board room and media agendas – there’s nothing more effective at focusing the mind than survival. Make no mistake, today’s compliance landscape is a minefield where the key to business continuity is the ability to manage risk, maintain resilience and ensure recovery. Regulatory regimes and the penalties they can levy are evolving rapidly to keep pace with the explosive growth in information flow. Neglecting document management can be a very expensive and damaging oversight.

There are four factors that combine to threaten business continuity for the unwary in document management. The first is the exponential growth of information in modern enterprise, generated and required by businesses, customers and regulators. The second is the regulation of information itself, which in recent years has become ever-more wide ranging and aggressive, overseen by powerful bodies such as the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. The third is that as information flows between various electronic and physical formats, it is increasingly vulnerable, difficult to manage and protect. Finally, information has to be easily accessible (for business and regulatory needs) whilst robustly protected.

It’s an enormously complex and often contradictory equation for organisations to solve – better management of more information, which has to be both better protected and more easily accessible. Regulation is the key component in this equation and the impetus for effective document management. With the raft of legislation currently on the books and just around the corner, this is hardly surprising.

The regularity of breaches from organisations large and small shows how easily reputable organisations can inadvertently fall foul of information legislation. So what can they do?

The complexity involved at this level of document management is understandably daunting for companies, simply because it isn’t a core part of the business. Intelligent document management is a highly specialised discipline and not something that can simply be appended to an existing employee’s job description. Businesses need a strategic partnership with a company with extensive expertise. Use of the word ‘partnership’ is deliberate, because a document storage solution simply isn’t enough – enterprises need a partner that truly understands their business and tailors solutions to specific needs.

Records management should be seen as a component of a comprehensive business continuity strategy, helping to reduce legal and financial risk and, importantly, safeguard a business’s reputation. A record management programme must include effective policies and procedures, retention schedules, disposal routines, communications, proof of training and enforcement. A proactively planned records management strategy is the best form of defence.

Companies need to deploy a comprehensive and integrated roadmap for compliance and to safeguard business continuity:

• Organise a solid infrastructure that will encompass determining the scale of the programme, the creation of effective programme governance, business area specific task groups and sufficient administrative resources.
• Assess and plan with a thorough records inventory, evaluation of existing document management systems, risk assessments, analysis of legal access and retention requirements and the development of a strategic plan.
• Develop key components and metrics which will include a realistic retention schedule and company-wide policies to provide the foundation for a credible, consistent and compliant programme.
• Implementation is critical – the success of the programme will be based on delivery, not its design. As with any project, implementation needs to be applied as a formal exercise containing tailored communication and training components.
• Manage the programme because, no matter how successful the implementation, if it isn’t enforced it will fail.
• Audit and accountability are essential to ensure that everything is working well and the business is consistently compliant.

Let’s go back to the complex equation mentioned earlier to see how a strategic partner can resolve the contradictions that regulation imposes. Electronic information can be stored in a safe online digital records centre – quickly retrievable only by authorised staff from any internet enabled computer – so that it is both secure and rapidly accessible. Physical documents can be held offsite in secure data storage facilities, freeing up expensive office space, data security resources and archive staff – increasing the capacity to manage, store and exploit growing information resources. These documents can then be scanned cost effectively, as they are needed, and accessed with the speed and accuracy of electronic documents – delivering true integration of varying storage formats.

Today, more than ever before, records management compliance is the foundation of any business continuity strategy.  Document management is often seen as a necessary evil but the expertise of a strategic partner can take away the pain by reducing costs, simplifying business practice and ensuring continued compliance. Enter this environment unprepared and companies will pay the price, but if they enter with a strategic partner with the right expertise they will not only survive, they will thrive.

^{[Supplied by Iron Mountain.]}