GRC Journal - (Page 32) INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN THE ELECTRONIC ERA JAN ROSI, TOWER Software, says records managers and IT departments are merging because organizations are now doing business electronically – they are interlocked. Why is it important for RM (records management) and IT (information technology) to work together to ensure successful information management and compliance across the organization? To date, IT has focused on the management of electronic data – storing electronic data, backing it up, making sure that there is sufficient storage across the organization, managing where electronic data is stored, etc. Meanwhile, records managers have concerned themselves with managing information over time and geographies. Records managers have experience of managing paper where information had to be available and managed at the enterprise level as opposed to the desktop level. Now, RM and IT are merging because most businesses and organizations are doing business electronically and they need to manage electronic data as information. The information being created electronically is creating a real need for organizations to both manage this information at an enterprise level (for compliance) and to make it available across the enterprise (for reuse and sharing). We are finding that people are responding with information lifecycle management solutions, and organizations are bringing their IT and RM people together so that they can work together to figure out how to actually manage electronic information across the enterprise. This is all being driven for two reasons: 1) Organizations are working electronically and need to serve their clients more rapidly and be more responsive, which means they need ready access to electronic information across the enterprise; and 2) Organizations are increasingly being faced with lawsuits where electronic information must be rapidly made available when required, so this information must be managed as an BTQ enterprise resource. In this sense, management is about control and authority over the information. The increase in doing business electronically and the increased use of electronic information and evidence in legal suits are the two key drivers for the collaboration of RM and IT in both private and public organizations today. This is good for enterprises because as well as being compliant legally, the combining of the skills of IT together with the science of RM will actually drive efficiencies and effectiveness for organizations by making all forms of information available across the enterprise so that people can share and reuse information more readily. What are the advantages and disadvantages of managing records “in place?” Is this really a feasible solution? Managing records “in place” is increasingly being talked about in the enterprise software market. This is the process of applying retention schedules and holds when necessary to information on existing servers, line of business applications, and document management systems. In this case, information is not moved into a central repository where it is formally managed with authority; information across the organization is merely tagged with retention schedules and possibly holds when necessary. While “managing in place” provides a certain degree of compliance, it doesn’t fully protect you legally. It’s really a half-way solution and could become extremely dangerous when you get into a court of law. It makes organizations believe they are safe and legally compliant, however, they are not fully legally compliant and this creates risk when they are in court. Q1 2007 | www.btquarterly.com Business Trends Quarterly http://www.btquarterly.com
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