GRC Journal - (Page 33) Governance, Risk & Compliance Many organizations already have systems and solutions in place to manage electronic information, and many of these organizations are very large and complex so it’s very difficult for them to change. Implementing a solution which “manages in place” by applying retention schedules to information in existing systems requires less change management, is easier, and is less costly to implement. Organizations that are using “managing in place” solutions are achieving a degree of compliance by being able to ensure information is kept for the legal required period of time and is disposed at the correct time. At the same time, legal “holds” can be applied to the required information when lawsuits occur. Hence, this solution is appealing to large complex organizations with a plethora of existing systems where information is held. Unfortunately, “managing in place” doesn’t really give you the full level of compliance required in today’s business environment. “Managing in place,” which places retention schedules and legal “holds” on information, is only a part of addressing compliance and ensuring your organization can defend itself in a court of law. As important, and possibly even more critical, are the following key areas which are not addressed by “managing in place”: 1. The ability to show who had authority over the information via being able to demonstrate a chain of custody over the information – who had the information and when did they have it. 2. The ability to demonstrate the authenticity of the document or record – the final version. 3. The ability to ensure the document is the authoritative document and there are no duplicates. The availability of duplicate versions of documents and records can significantly increase risks to an organization in a court of law. 4. The provision of increased security over the document/ record enabling organizations to demonstrate who may have modified the document and when. 5. The provision of rich metadata which can greatly assist in defending an organization’s position. 6. The ability to show a chain of evidence – a sequence of facts and activities which correlate each other during a legal case. The above key areas are critical to ensuring an organization is best positioned to defend itself in a court of law and are the additional areas covered by a sound enterprise content management (ECM) system. While the implementation of a strong ECM system based on RM principles does require change management across the enterprise, the rewards to be reaped both with regards to the organization being protected from legal suits and being more efficient and effective are significant and well worth the investment. Hence, while the current trend in the industry that says “managing in place” is a “panacea,” this leaves organizations exposed when it comes to legal disclosure. While “managing in place” can appear to be a simpler solution for IT as it addresses retention management, records managers truly understand how to defend an organization in court and they recognize that this solution really isn’t a panacea; rather it introduces unacceptable risk to organizations. Why is there convergence in information management technologies? Over the last decade, we’ve seen the convergence of document management and records management and we’re now seeing convergence of collaboration tools and portals. This is really driven by the speed at which organizations are having to move and the need to rapidly access all forms of information to be responsive to the needs of their clients. People are no longer differentiating between documents and records; whereas five years ago this discussion was fairly significant, now people are looking at information across the enterprise simply as “information” irrespective of the type of information. Hence, we have seen the convergence of document and records management systems and the ability these systems have to manage all forms of electronic and paper information within the single system. As organizations move to doing business electronically, their clients are demanding ever more rapid responsiveness to their needs. This is driving organizations to look for ways of working quicker, more effectively, and more efficiently. People need to be able to collaborate, they need to be able to share, they need to be able to reuse information, and at the same time they need to be compliant with the law – and all of this has to be done quickly. Silos of information and business solutions are no longer acceptable. So, the speed at which organizations need to respond to their clients or citizen needs is really driving convergence and the maturing of the information industry. We now see that organizations are looking at ECM solutions which have a convergence of all of these technologies. This is being driven by the maturing of the technologies, maturing of the marketplace, and by organizations that need to work more rapidly to be more responsive to their citizens and clients. Jan Rosi has more than 25 years of global IT, strategic sales, and business leadership experience. Jan served as the National Sales and Marketing Manager for TOWER Software in Australia. She moved on seven years ago to lead the Australian federal government business unit for Compaq and HP, and returned to TOWER Software in August 2004 to become President of its North American Regional Office. Q1 2007 | www.btquarterly.com BTQ Business Trends Quarterly 7 http://www.btquarterly.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.