Records Readiness™ Corporate Training Offers Off-The-Shelf Solution To Compliance Challenge
Data Empowerment Puts the Billion-Dollar Records Management Genie Back in the Bottle
In today's litigious society, there are few things worse than a problem without a solution – but until Data Empowerment came up with the solution, a records management training program that is without precedent – this problem-without-a-solution is exactly what America's businesses faced when confronting the daunting, high-risk field of records management compliance. This Software-as-a-Service "Records Readiness™"solution was announced yesterday at an ARMA meeting on email security, and is now in the marketplace.
When one of America's major multi-national banks got hit with a billion dollar judgment for violating evidentiary rules governing records management, businesses large and small began to wake up to the risk they faced – when corporate attorneys respond to a discovery motion, they have to be ready to produce records they might not even know exist including records controlled by a third party.
Then, when a rash of other multi-million dollar fines and judgments were levied over issues as simple as producing email messages – or proving that they'd been destroyed under an established records management policy – companies realized that this wasn't a one-time problem. However, what remained unclear – until now – was how companies could comply with seemingly impossible legal expectations for managing everything from traditional printed documents to emails, voice mails and text messages.
These records had to be accessed across platforms ranging from legacy mainframe computer systems to hand-held and laptop computers, as well as the company's central servers and any hosted services. For companies that had grown through mergers and acquisitions, and for companies that had provided key employees with significant personal equipment flexibility, the challenge of managing records seemed indeed impossible.
"The biggest challenge to implementing any rational records management system may not be technological," according to records technology expert, Thomas Utiger, founding CEO of Data Empowerment Group and author of Records & Information Management Risk Assessment. "The human equation, which involves gaining compliance with all employees empowered to create records – and that means everyone who uses email, voice mail or even text messages – is perhaps the largest single corporate challenge. Employees don't realize their own records management role, nor do they have a clue on how they contribute in positive or negative ways to the corporation's overall compliance."
Utiger points out that a great deal is at stake. "Corporations' email retention policies are guided by the new Federal Evidentiary Rules for Discovery," he pointed out. "These rules make it clear that the only safe corporate RIM solution is a comprehensive, legally defensible records management program. Penalties for non-compliance can be devastating, financially and operationally.
"At Data Empowerment, we've dealt with solving the huge, decisively-critical technological challenges facing corporations," Utiger explained, "and in helping clients achieve technical compliance, we've seen that the human factor may be even more important than these vital technology compliance solutions As a result, we've created a blend of technology with the human element, our Records Readiness™ Corporate Training."
This Records Readiness solution includes a series of sophisticated computer-based self-study training modules, aimed at key internal audiences ranging from board-level, C-level and senior executives to risk managers, line managers and front-line employees.
"Records Management varies widely from company to company, which lead our design of the standard Records Readiness training system to be tailored for each organization," Utiger said. "We've found that a clear indication of universal top-down commitment to RIM compliance helps ensure front-line buy-in; without that buy-in, day-to-day compliance is difficult to achieve.
"This sophisticated, yet easy-to-use self-study training program is designed for every employee empowered to create records as defined by the Federal guidelines," Utiger said. "These records include emails, voice mails and text message records.
Initially, we have created four modules – and we are in the process of completing the series, which will ultimately have eight core modules in place, designed as a group to meet the full range of corporate needs, from elementary to sophisticated and demanding compliance challenges."
Data Empowerment's Records Readiness Program embraces an enterprise-wide record management training concept. "This ensures that all levels of employees are, in effect, singing from the same hymnbook," Utiger said. "For a company to achieve practical and legally-sound compliance, all employees must embrace and practice the company's RIM policies and procedures. And, because our program is scalable by design, we can help both SMB clients and the largest Fortune 500 multi-national corporations achieve the same level of compliance protection in a controlled, cost-effective and ongoing program that doesn't interfere with employees' ability to "do business" on a day-to-day basis."
Utiger, a widely-published Records & Information Management (RIM) expert and founder /CEO of Data Empowerment Group, holds several seminal pending patents in this fast-emerging field. He writes journal articles for banking, legal and technology trade publications, and conducts frequent C-level seminars on the importance – and the process – of RIM compliance in today's litigious society.
About Data Empowerment Group
Data Empowerment Group (www.dataempowerment.com) – is a records and data management innovator and global provider of integrated enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. DEG specializes in filling functionality gaps in existing records management systems, as well as in solving records and data management challenges through its innovative content integration software and workshops. The Company's programs work in collaboration with existing ECM platforms, enabling a fully integrated records and data management protocol that unifies client employee processes, increasing clients' competitive edge by reducing operating costs and liability, and improving efficiency.