I’ve been pointing out for some time that professional Information Management has largely collapsed in most organizations. It’s to be expected of course, following the radical changes in communications that have accompanied the introduction of IT networks. But such a situation will never be permitted to last indefinitely. If the consequences of bad corporate practices don’t frighten companies into action, then the lawmakers and regulators certainly will.
And so we enter a new age of electronic discovery and document management with the introduction this month of new Federal Laws that require companies to store electronic data as soon as they become aware that it might be of interest in a potential Federal Court case. And who pays for the massive costs of retrieving all these documents for a Court case? The retriever does of course, which will make it attractive for small companies to make claims against bigger ones - though they had better make sure that they also have their own house in order. And claiming that the discs have failed - the modern equivalent of “the papers were lost in the fire” - won’t help you, because you will need to present solid, forensic evidence to support your claims.
So what should affected organisations do? The answer is to bite the bullet and get your house in order. Because if you don’t take appropriate steps to control, index and archive all of your emails, instant messages, documents and spreadsheets, then you could be exposed to expensive, future liabilities. Fortunately there are a host of brand new technologies designed to help you solve these problems. For example check out Chronicle Solutions for control and archiving of in-flight documents such as email, web access and instant messaging, and Mathon for all those Word documents and spreadsheets stored on company servers.