Study reveals importance of records management, discovery and retention
ConvergenceAsia staff
21/10/2008

A new study commissioned by CA and conducted by ARMA International reveals that a large majority of Records Management professionals feel unprepared when it comes to email management (72 per cent) and eDiscovery (68 per cent), in relation to those records.

The study also reveals a cause for their lack of preparedness: 75 per cent of respondents do not have a system that manages their content — including digital and physical information and records — across the enterprise. Sixty-two per cent of respondents do not have an email archiving system.

“The results of this survey solidify ARMA’s stance that there is an ongoing need to educate organisations about the importance of records management, discovery and retention,” said Marilyn Bier, executive director, ARMA International.

Most organisations report having retention policies for all content formats, with more than half (66 per cent) of companies using the same retention policy for both physical and electronic documents.

However, consistency in the application and enforcement of these policies is still lacking. Only one-third (38 per cent) of respondents reported that they manage these records according to their retention schedule; less than half (41 per cent) manage their email according to their retention policy; and only 20 per cent of companies manage their electronic documents according to the schedule.

The survey takers considered the following systems important, and as requiring the need for solid retention management and control of information within their organisations (listed in order of importance):

1. email and email archives;
2. both physical and electronic storage;
3. accounting systems;
4. document management systems (DMS);
5. voicemail;
6. mobile devices;
7. enterprise content management systems (ECM);
8. instant message;
9. collaborative systems; and
10. contact management systems, as well as other content silos.

Additionally, most survey respondents consider their companies’ risk levels to be moderate and believe they will spend about the same on Discovery/ eDiscovery in the coming year.

The ARMA International Survey was sent to ARMA International’s total membership base by ARMA International on behalf of CA from September 5 to 22, 2008 among 1,062 individuals.

The majority of responders describe their job function in Records Management (75 per cent) while legal/compliance made up 4 per cent of responders and IT 2 per cent, matching those who describing their job as a Corporate Executive. Responders not identifying with the survey pre-defined job functions (17 per cent), reported their position in records, legal, and archiving most predominantly.

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