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Alan Pelz-Sharpe

The ROI on a Records Manager

14-Jan-2009

Tags: , Document Management (ECM), E-mail Archiving and Management, Building Business Case, Implementation, Marketplace at Large

Retention Management was certainly a buzzword in 2008. And I found out through a number of conversations with buyers and technology users that it was a very misunderstood term.

Most people took it to simply mean "to retain." More than one told me without a hint of irony that their company's retention policy was to retain everything.

In fact the real focus of Retention Management is "disposition" -- the secure and compliant disposal of content. The "keep everything" mindset has long been with us, and as the hype around cloud computing builds up steam (toxic steam) it starts to appear an ever more sensible approach. But when you think about it, there are many reasons to dispose of data/content -- the first and foremost in this economy is not compliance as some vendors seem to believe, but cost reduction.

By disposing of content you can dramatically reduce the cost of your storage and server infrastructure. In terms of compliance and the threat of legal discovery actions, disposition is crucial in driving down both risk and discovery costs. Of course to dispose of content one needs a strong retention policy in place, one that codifies what you need to keep, for how long, and how to keep it.

As we detail in our subscriber services, ECM-style technology can help do this work for you, but your smartest investment may be a qualified Records Manager. Never underestimate the value that good housekeeping can bring; remember you pay top dollar to manage that redundant junk. At the same time, don't underestimate the work involved in setting up and managing a compliant and efficient retention and records management policy. So, as you look to cut your costs in 2009 consider disposing of large volumes of redundant content, and the impressive ROI that a good Record Management hire can provide to your organization.

For what it's worth, I can tell you that in my 20 years in this industry, by far the best bang for buck project activity I encounter, is the clearing out of junk content/data from file servers, databases, and tier 1 storage. It may not be pretty or exciting, but it delivers results fast.