| Fortune 1000 companies are ‘scrambling to update records management’ The combination of stringent new federal regulations on document retention and privacy, and the financial burden of new litigation-discovery rules is sending the United States’ Fortune 1000 companies scrambling to update their records management programs, according to a study released by Iron Mountain. The survey indicates that Fortune 1000 companies are ‘waking up to the importance of records management’, with more than 60 percent having updated their records-management policies within the past year. And nearly half of the Fortune 1000 companies surveyed (44 percent) planning on spending more on records management next year than they did this past year (21 percent substantially more). Although 77 percent of those surveyed report they are making progress, companies still have a long way to go with many ignoring critical aspects of compliance. Specifically, a full 87 percent of those surveyed have failed to deploy the tools needed to assure efficient and automated records management and more than half (56 percent) fail to regularly evaluate and improve their records management programmes. Furthermore, a full 44 percent do not test their records management programme on a regular basis. "The good news is that executives clearly recognise this as a risk management issue, not just another information technology project," said Iron Mountain's executive vice president of marketing, Ken Rubin. "However, companies are making a big mistake believing that a policy manual is an adequate records management programme. They don't have the processes and controls in place to mitigate compliance and litigation risks. Companies must go beyond rules and procedural definitions and make sure those rules are executed automatically and consistently across the entire organisation." Litigation driving additional investments
In addition, 23 percent of companies surveyed said litigation is a primary driver of their records management investment. Indeed, nearly half of the companies surveyed (44 percent) have had to retrieve e-mails from backup tapes in connection with legal matters. "Two world's have collided - the challenges of litigation and regulatory investigations are escalating and falling on the shoulders of IT organisations because of the focus on digital records," added Pete Delle Donne, president of Iron Mountain's Enterprise Solutions and Services division. "Faced with the enormous cost and labour-intensive procedure of responding to litigation demands, companies are realising they need to be more proactive about reducing litigation discovery risk and cost."
•Date:
30th September 2003 •Region: N.America •Type:
Article •Topic: BC
general |
