I'd like to take a step back on this, and look at a trend that I see
having developed over the last few years.

To simplify, we have seen corporate greed and dishonesty drive
increasingly-impatient legislators, regulators and the judiciary to say
that if people won't apply proper RM disposal practices (let alone proper
business practices), then certain types of records or documents must be
kept for a fixed number of years. These record types are defined not by
content and context but by medium.

So far this has applied to specific types or situations - instant messages
and emails in some financial sectors etc, but if the trend continues, then
we will, one day, be required to keep everything, or at least everything
electronic (and with increasing use of VOIP this will include phone
conversations). No argument, just keep the lot - but not forever, just for
some specified time.

Why will this trend continue?

1. Storage is cheap and easy. Searching across vast masses of stored stuff
is easy, at least for discovery-type searches if not for routine business
purposes. The IT industry is very good at selling this, and hence in
persuading management and regulators that RM considerations as we know
them are unnecessary, self-interested distractions.

2. Legislators, regulators and judiciary are primarily concerned with
discovery (see corporate greed above), and they set the rules

3. Current RM disposal practices, even with system-based inheritance and
similar tools, are labour-intensive and too often unprogrammable - this is
not anything of our making, it is a by-product of living in a legal
environment based on common law, compounded in many cases by overlapping
federal, state and other jurisdictions. So don't blame RM, but it IS all
too hard and increasingly cost unjustifiable.

4. Greed will continue so the majority of businesses and individuals will
continue to suffer from the actions of a few, but that's not new.

The logical outcome of this is a future where everything electronic is
kept, regardless of content and context, for specified time periods, and
managed for discovery and similar purposes by Google-type search
facilities. The risks associated with keeping things too long will be
over-ruled by legislated fixed retention periods, based on media type.

The logical question is, what is the role of RM in this? Very little.

The conclusion is then that if you have based your RM raison d'etre on
statutory and regulatory compliance, you have no future.

What IS left is supporting business needs other than compliance. KM here
we come.

Glenn

Glenn Sanders MRMA
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Australia

These views are mine alone. They may or may not be those of any
previous or present employers or clients. I don't know. If I'd asked
and they'd agreed, I would have signed it "Harry Peck and Co and
Glenn". Or whatever. But I haven't, so I didn't.



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