First, I want to say this has been an exciting thread - thanks to all who
have participated!  Okay ...

Sharon said: We should not be separate [from IT and/or Legal] or viewed as
administrative.

I am going to jump in and disagree here, kind of.  Totally agree with the
point about being viewed as "administrative".  However, for as much as there
may be potential value (from a practicality standpoint) in our merging into
IT or Legal in certain organizations, on the whole, I think there are more
good reasons to be on our own.  We put content first.  IT puts access first
(regardless of the value of *what* they are providing access to).  Legal
puts risk first.

Sure, much of what we do today involves electronic content, but certainly
not all of it, and sure, a component of our appraisal process and other
activities involve the legal aspect (lit holds, etc.), but we still have
that other stuff that we do that directly supports the business.  The stuff
that is has nothing to do with medium, that isn't driven by law or
regulation or litigation.  We do things like develop file plans and do
business process analysis to maximize leveraging the value of the
*content*.  We manage information to support the generation of competitive
advantage, to ensure our organization's employees can collaborate and work
efficiently and effectively, to ensure our organizations don't spend money
needlessley on storage, etc.

The three disciplines have very different lenses through which they view
their world, and I think all three are of equal importance when making
decisions.  If RIM reports up to IT, then, naturally, RIM will be filtered
through IT priorities.  If RIM reports to Legal, then it will, naturally, be
subject to Legal's priorities.  Personally, I don't think we need, or should
seek out, any filters.  By rolling ourselves under one or the other, are we
not automatically relegating our perspective to second tier and providing
more ammo to folks like the presenters I listened to yesterday?

My last two cents for today.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Julie

-- 
Julie J. Colgan, CRM

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