Folks, I've responded to Hugh below and my comments and $5.00 will get you a cup of coffee. Dick King, University records Officer - University of Arizona
Hugh says:
I have been receiving quite a few surveys where the marketplace from many directions, is trying to figure out where we are headed. Here are some examples of what Big Data and other service agencies want to know?
Cloud computing has revolutionized the workplace and now IT professionals must now navigate new potential risks. Is IT ready to deal with litigation support?
Is RIM ready to help them deal with it? Are data maps in place? Are retention schedules being met for data in the cloud? Have digital debris been cleared from desk tops?
Cloud storage has the potential to be a disruptive technology. IT has not yet figured out the risks that Cloud poses to the organization? Where do we find the answers?
Well, I think many IT shops have figured this out but have security processes been clearly carried to the user? Are they encrypting data in motion as well as at rest in the cloud? Is it even possible to encrypt say ten terra-bites of data and get it to the cloud in a reasonable length of time? There is still going to be a need for secure servers on premise for classified or restricted data. My institution has a matrix showing types of data (records) by storage type that meets the security level for that type of data. This is not automated so, once again, it's up to the user to do it right.
The regulatory and legal environment that IT professionals must familiarize themselves with worries some professionals. Who can guide the management of a Cloud based records management program?
I don't think management should be any harder in the cloud than having multiple storage locations for hard copy records. Management will require knowing to what cloud provider is being used, what level of storage is being used, and what kind of data is going there. If cloud storage is provided centrally it would be much easier than if each unit of an entity can make its own decision. Retention periods will have to be attached to the stored data to flag the data for disposal. I could be wrong but I think some cloud storage options have this capability.
Some feel that the Cloud has gone to far? How do we fix the pitfalls that endanger the organization?
I'm not sure what the "pitfalls" are other than the ones attendant to poor planning and poor implementation of anything. Folks are just going to have to bite the bullet and plan and develop systems that work. One cannot afford to keep buying and refreshing on premise iron and paying the utilities costs for on premise hardware. TCO of on premise hardware are to high to compete with competently managed cloud support.
Before the answers to the above are fully developed, now Blockchain for the Cloud is brought in. Is this another example of the Big Data not wanting to do what works but move on to what generates new sales?
Well, if I understand what's come through on that thread, Blockchain is simply a hashing system that can be used to say whether the hashed data has somehow been changed or corrupted. It does not store the record it just stores the hash number of the record. It does not guarantee the authenticity of the original record that has been checked. It's like the last number in an ISBN on the obverse of the title page of a book. That number (1 through 9 and X for ten) is a hash of the preceding number that checks the whole number for correctness.
Has the Cloud been supported such that it is secure? Do corporations care about Security?
I have yet to see a breach charged to the cloud. If a corporation or any other entity doesn't care about security they are going to fail or loose proprietary information or have a beach. Security issues should be at the top of any shareholder meeting agenda.
Blockchain appears to be an attempt to add security to the Cloud by yet again removing human intervention from the process?
We've been doing check numbers for years. Constructing the numbers and checking the record is a digital process that is beyond human processing abilities.
Why do organizations keep moving to new technology when the old technology has not been perfected and secure?
Drive for increased productivity. Computers don't take sick days.
Is Blockchain just another magicians slight of hand where the client is distracted with the new and shiny in one hand so they stop paying attention to the failures in the current model?
If my babbling above is correct I don't think there is a "current model" for off-site hash number storage.
Are you prepared for life after the hard drive? NAND flash memory surpassed HDD in areal density for the first time. The reliable mechanical hard drive is getting replaced by cloud storage and solid state drives. These changes are turning the corner to a world where robotics are playing a bigger role in manufacturing. How does mankind stay relevant?
( a look inside Giga, Volvo, Toyota and Faraday car plants will show a level of sophistication and robotics that are unlike past experience.)
Back to subsistence farming. No jobs, no money, no buy. However, expenses will go down because you won't need to buy a car when UBER goes to the driverless car. They will be cruising the countryside and you can flag one down or they will just sit at the UBER Stop and you can pop in and off you go to flip burgers.
Boxes of records are disappearing from shelves. The big shelving companies are moving more to manufacturing storage as the big growth model for paper records has shifted. How is your organization reacting to records storage?
Over the last 25 years our box intake rate has dropped probably 2/3 to a constant rate of about 1,000 new boxes a year. I keep trying to put my storage center out of business by showing customers how they can switch to born digital records to save time, staff hours and cost.
The fact that committee overseeing server room and data center design is looking for guidance on electronic records, how does the records management community respond?
Ain't going to be any server rooms or small data centers bubba. Tell 'em what you need are bigger and fasters pipes to the cloud.
Is security of records less or more important?
Same as only slightly more complicated. Data going to cloud won't fall out of the pipe like tapes do out of trucks.
If all records are born digital, will records management of the future just evolve into a large jukebox of records that opposing counsel can attach a search jukebox to find the smoking gun?
RMs will have to meld with IT, legal, and other entity functions to provide data support from the ground up. Maybe we will go back to forms management to stop data duplication (how many bloody time to I have to fill out the same crappy form at the Drs. Office?), we will map data production and receipt, we will help develop tags for data importance and/or worth, we will point data to its proper home depending on where it is in its life cycle, we will help develop dashboards for BI across multiple types of records, we will flag data in storage for disposal and/or litigation holds, and so on and so forth. Actually I think it could really be fun times as data/records managers and leaders of information governance.
How does records manager need to educate themselves to stay relevant in a world of electronic and Cloud storage?
Insert yourself into ongoing IT groups and initiatives. My institution has a cloud initiative and I'm in there. I've learned a lot about what I don't know about IT but I know a lot more than I did about cloud and current user needs. While I'm not the brightest bulb on the marquee, I have caught there attention on issues of records management that had never entered into their planning scenarios. As Hugh has noted, there is a ton of information available from vendor email feeds and free subscriptions to tech magazines.
Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
[log in to unmask]
(610) 756-4440 Fax (610) 756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
|
