Records Readiness™ Learning Series Offers Off-The-Shelf Solution to Compliance Challenge
Henderson Nevada, May 21, 2008: 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, spelled out in (http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/EDiscovery_w_Notes.pdf), 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 (http://www.recordsreadiness.com).”
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.”
