Value-Added Records Management: Protecting Corporate Assets and Reducing Business Risks

As litigation threats, government demands, and office technologies change how business is done, the author calls on business management for fresh perspectives regarding records management. The evolution from paper-based to multi-media business information systems contributes to a fragmentation and loss of control of those systems. An organization will need to organize, integrate, and carefully manage its various information systems in order to harness their power. The book examines the changing roles of records management to support, protect, and add value to the enterprise. Rather than a narrow focus on the form of records and their storage, the author proposes a broader focus on how a record's content and value relate to legal issues and business needs. The author illustrates situations in which proper record-keeping is necessary for a business to preserve its legal rights and to protect itself from undue harm and losses. Records management strategies are suggested to prevent or minimize the risks of poor records management and its consequences. The strategies also help narrow the gap between the function's capabilities and its actual applications in business today in order to provide better information at lower costs. An enterprise-wide records management programme is proposed for the highest returns on the investments to meet both business and legal requirements. Such a programme will require strong interactions among different business activities and management levels. By illustrating what can go wrong - or right - with business records, the book seeks to provide a new appreciation of the need for judicious records management while it serves as a decision-making guide for executives, top management, and professionals.