The budget’s tight, resources are limited and you’ve scattered records among several vendors. When you choose to consolidate that data, your firm can save time, money and resources.
No matter how many locks secure your data, the criminal mind is always a step ahead. Close the gaps in your RIM program and ensure chain of custody with these best practice questions.
Finally! After years of maintaining disparate storage systems, your organization is standardizing on a common infrastructure. Here are critical factors to consider—including the vital aspect of backup storage.
A flood of electronic information is heading this way. The problem is many organizations are missing a fundamental part of unified records and information management (RIM): records management training.
That the majority of information organizations must manage is classified as an inactive record is a fact of doing business thanks to long-term retention guidelines and the vast quantity of information generated daily by technology.
Have you read about a recent business litigation case that depended on email correspondence to win? Probably. These stories appear with increasing regularity, yet many businesses are ignoring the messages these incidents contain.
The importance of active data cannot be understated. As a whole, it encompasses every aspect of an organization's ability to function — business systems, customer data and internal initiatives, to name a few. Vital records must be protected from the wrong hands but also completely accessible to those who need them.
Electronic records management (ERM) is a game changer in every industry it touches. Players have two choices: You can either continue to engage using moves that no longer get you to the next level, or you can change your approach and adapt to the new landscape.
Open Assignment for "Filing systems"
Old data is much like milk: It’s best to toss it on the expiration date. A lifecycle management plan determines the fate of every type of record you’re archiving—from receipts to five-year hiring projections.
Regardless of size or budget, when calamity strikes, all companies face the same disaster recovery challenges. These techniques can safeguard your data and ensure rapid recovery.
Think your records and information management program is running to its best potential? Prove it with a regular monitoring schedule that supports your organization’s cost, compliance and efficiency goals.
Are you developing a new records and information management (RIM) program to grapple with social media and the records explosion? If so, be sure it includes a data migration strategy for your existing archives. Here’s what to consider.
Whether a business sells homeowner’s insurance or the perfect coffee, its employees excel at what they do because of well-conceived processes and training. Is your RIM strategy getting the same kind of love?
Get your staff up to speed on social policy, and monitor their posts, texts and tweets as you develop your records information management plan. You might just be protecting your company’s reputation in the process.
It doesn't matter where you’re storing your records or in what format they reside. A unified records management strategy manages them under a single set of policies and procedures. Here’s how to start.
No matter what regulatory constraints your industry faces, you can always manage data restoration more efficiently. Here are some suggestions.
In 1973, an 18-minute gap in an audiotape helped bring down a president. You can avoid a similarly fateful records management failure by using a role-based electronic records classification system.
It’s inventory time—how will you access your valuable data if it’s stored in multiple formats across multiple locations? Develop a data migration strategy that provides enhanced access, security and cost savings.
As your organization transitions to electronic records, you need to consider moving from bulky legacy computers to archives built on a foundation of standardized data formats. But how can you do that without interrupting your business?
When your firm adopts new storage options, it may lose access to vital transactions, emails and other data in legacy archives. But you can avoid this by developing a flexible data migration strategy.
When it comes to optimizing e-records in an increasingly rigorous regulatory environment, you don’t need a full pit crew to get your RIM strategy purring like a kitten—just a handful of best practices.
When your firm’s rebels without a cause flout records and information management policies, you’re tempting fate—especially in this increasingly aggressive regulatory climate. Keep those renegades in line with proper RIM training and policy enforcement.
With increasing revenues and a growing employee roster, isn’t it time to get your records out of the utility room? Here’s how to build a scalable records storage system to complement your thriving business.
How many ways could you love the best aspects of an efficient, cost-effective and compliant records and information management (RIM) program? We can help help with the answer to that.
If you’ve considered calling in a political number cruncher to slice your data, consider first converting paper records to electronic ones to gain a quantifiable business advantage.
Whether it’s a union of two families or two businesses’ records archives, the merger is bound to experience some hiccups. Here’s how to turn this records management challenge into an opportunity.
On the popular television drama, crime fighters try to stop trouble before it happens. You can do the same – with dramatic results – by getting your records management program in audit-ready shape.
It’s the nightmare you don’t even know you’re having: A rogue department’s self-styled record-keeping is creating serious legal and financial risks for your firm. Thankfully, you can return those MacGyvers to the records management fold.
No one wants to think about a fire, flood or other disaster hitting their headquarters. But given these realities, an offsite records archive makes great sense. Here are five questions to ask a potential storage partner.
Now that your thriving regional business has become a multi-location national contender, can an Information Governance Director harness records management operations under one protective roof? Here’s what such a plan can do for your organization.
Even companies with indie-size budgets can follow these five industry best practices for records management. Their theme? Banking on the reliability of paper while building a versatile hybrid paper and digital solution.
Don’t let ghosts of information governance strategies past compromise your archiving, retention and information management policies. Work with a trusted partner and key internal stakeholders to replace patchwork legacy systems with unified records management.
Even the new Americanized Sherlock Holmes can’t help you find wayward records. But he’d likely embrace these tips for cutting down the clutter and getting smart about your overall records management system.
When you put metatags to work as part of your organization’s electronic records sharing, you’re protecting data that’s regulated under HIPAA, SOX and other laws. Here’s how it works.
E-records can boost efficiency and productivity while reducing data errors. But how close are you to seizing that brass ring? Use this six-step checklist to gauge your progress, and to help revise your approach, if necessary.
Is the C-suite casting dark shadows on your attempts at records management reform? Here’s how to convince higher-ups that the changes are worth the sacrifice.
Don’t wait until you’re knee-deep in legacy data—or until you’ve maxed out storage capacity for electronic records—to get these five IT initiatives for optimizing your data infrastructure on your firm’s radar screen.
A coping strategy for retooling your firm’s records and information management (RIM) policies can help you stare down the ever-growing wave of traditional and social media information.
Have you already abandoned those starry-eyed New Year resolutions? You can always hit the refresh button. These five “reresolutions” can ensure that your 2013 information management best practices are safe, compliant and cost-effective.
Entrusting records and information management, along with scanning, to a trusted partner will make more efficient use of your firm’s time and resources—and it will trim your budget, too.
You can dig out from under the paper pile in no time: Just follow the steps in this smart records storage guide to benefit from advances in image capture, coding and analytics.
As pundits debate global warming, you’ve got a more pressing issue: How can your firm properly destroy data while making sure the process is both secure and environmentally sound?
Along with other digital content, social media records should be only a few mouse clicks away. But how can you define these items? Here’s how to index and access social media content.
A records retention schedule goes far to show your company’s due diligence in the quickly changing world of social media.
Incorporating some basic records management practices into your move to SharePoint can help your company achieve compliance and meet operational objectives. Here’s how to get started.
Iron Mountain’s benchmark report identifies five areas where improvements in your records management program can make a difference. Here’s a blueprint for using best practices in those categories.
You may be rolling out Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 application as part of a records management upgrade. But is your current program supporting legacy SharePoint data? Here’s how to juggle past, present and future.
A solid and sensible information management plan extends well beyond walls, borders and time zones. Whether your business spans a city, region or the globe, it needs to be secure and consistent in each location.
By migrating to Microsoft® SharePoint 2010, your organization has a golden opportunity. You can implement a comprehensive unified records management plan that centralizes control of onsite and offsite data assets, both physical and digital.
Once tweets, blogs and other social media content become part of your official records and information management program, you’re compelled to enact privacy and security best practices. So how is your business dealing with the legal and regulatory consequences?
Tweets, blogs, wikis and other forms of social media are spawning enormous volumes of records—and you need to retain much of it to maintain compliance. Take these steps to get a grip on your ever-growing content.
It’s easier to index, store and access digital documents. But you can’t convert all of that paper overnight—and in some cases, you may not want to. The trick: managing the gap for now.
Your firm must protect its customers’ and employees’ confidential information while also mitigating its risk profile. Take these steps to develop an information management plan that includes efficient, compliant disposal of physical and electronic information.
No company wants a disaster, yet the very nature of your business presents a complex web of risks, especially given the very tense climate of regulation and accountability. Here’s how to ensure your information management strategy is always ready for the unexpected.
Even with clear policies and procedures, catching errors in your RIM program will be tough—that is, unless your company conducts periodic information audits and makes fixes as needed. Here’s how to do it.
A week before your CEO is scheduled to testify about a three-year-old business deal, the critical documents you need are lost in your vast archive. An indexing plan could have saved the day—and maybe your livelihood, too.
Only 15 percent of the organizations participating in a recent Iron Mountain study say they regularly audit their records and information Management (RIM) procedures, review the findings and respond with remediation.
Want to be a compliance and RIM rock star? Start with a detailed records retention schedule—one that applies to all locations and types of records. Here’s the riff on making it happen.
A well-designed records and information management (RIM) program can help cut costs, improve efficiencies and monitor compliance. You’ll need to create long-term procedures consistent across the company.
More than 6 out of 10 organizations surveyed for The Iron Mountain 2012 Compliance Benchmark Report have experienced a natural or man-made disaster, a merger, an acquisition or another costly trigger event.
The Iron Mountain Compliance Benchmark Report, A View Into Unified Records Management, provides an in-depth look at current information-management practices—including some formidable challenges now facing organizations like yours.
During discovery, your general counsel needs vital records quickly to reduce risk exposure and get the best results. Here’s how to prepare for “need it yesterday” requests.
Companies that take the initiative to create an information management program can realize benefits in budgets, compliance and efficiency, and also boost their ability to handle unique events.
Regulations including FRCP and FINRA call for new ways to manage blogs, tweets and similar digital content. Records managers can take these steps to create and maintain create a successful social media retention plan.
Are inconsistent information management best practices keeping you at your desk until the wee hours? Consider these five initial time- and money-saving steps.
Do you aspire to go paperless as your firm navigates volumes of paper and electronic information? A new Iron Mountain study lets you compare your firm’s information management practices with those of your peers.
When you commit to a single, smart storage and retention plan for your entire enterprise, you’ll streamline disparate operations and make your company more productive in the process.
The best information management plan is consistent, legally defensible and follows your industry’s specific regulations. Here’s how to fast-track your company’s compliance initiative.
What do these events have in common? They demand a quick response from your records management team. Here’s how to kick off a cost-effective, efficient and compliant records information management strategy.
Most businesses are already trying to manage a glut of information. An acquisition or merger just intensifies the challenge—while also presenting an opportunity to revamp records management policies.
Microsoft’s SharePoint® collaboration software is an increasingly valuable content management tool. Here’s how to make the most of it while also ensuring that your business stays compliant and can meet legal discovery demands.
Build disaster preparedness into your information management plan to provide for most any eventuality of business life.
Whether you're moving, downsizing, merging or digging out from a disaster, smart information management can minimize your risks.
Leverage these records management and information best practices to ease the stress leading up to the big day—the sooner you do it, the better.
Does an expiring lease have you considering a move? Reviewing your RIM program at this crossroads may provide some valuable insight informing your “should we stay or should we go?” dilemma.
Are your company’s storage facilities overrun by job applications and performance reviews? Consider the efficiencies of a records management plan that protects the records you need and securely disposes of the rest.
A thoughtful records and information management program keeps your company compliant and cost-efficient. It may also mean reclaimed office space.
Many financial services firms are now subject to a real one-two punch: rapidly expanding records archives and a greater legal mandate than ever to properly store and manage them. Fortunately, an effective records retention schedule offers relief.
Learn how to build a case for your law firm’s revamped records retention policy and put an end to attorneys hoarding files as squirrels do acorns. Crime fighting should be so easy.
Your firm needs a smart, efficient and cost-effective records management program as it sets out to improve speed and productivity, cut costs, and address regulatory requirements. Here’s what to consider as you get started.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the best information governance professional of all? If you know what it now takes to make the leap from “records management” to a considerably more visible role in your firm, the answer may be self-serving.
Rigorous compliance and discovery demands for financial services firms, as well as increased merger and acquisition activity, are just some of the reasons you might be thinking about a records management upgrade. Here’s what to consider.
Successful records management in a financial services firm calls for someone who can set and enforce procedures, establish schedules and train employees—all in an atmosphere that’s hyper-aware of legal and regulatory requirements.
As you assess your financial records management options, consider the advantages of a hybrid system that combines the best of several storage methods.
If you’re hiring away from the competition, be sure to consider how you’ll integrate those newcomers’ client and personal files into your information management practices. Once you’ve done that, take them all out for sushi.
When you perform a careful audit of your records management program’s key performance aspects—including destruction timeliness and compliance with laws and regulations—you’ll almost always find room for improvement.
A data interruption can take a significant toll on your business. But how much would a lost day cost you? A week? A month? If your records are safe, so is your business.
Once you establish a smart records management program, you’ll want to monitor its progress. Key performance indicators can help you maximize productivity and lower costs.
Almost everything we do in our business lives carries the goal of streamlining processes so that we can be more efficient, productive and get more work done on a daily basis. From app deployments and software upgrades to the procurement of new devices, all are aimed at making us better worker bees.
Need to get colleagues on board with your vision for a new records management program? Here’s how to get their buy-in on a strategy that provides your business with the tools and resources it needs to meet secure storage, easy retrieval and confidential destruction goals.
Do you have the right systems in place to protect sensitive records—especially if your industry has tough confidentiality regulations?
As your small business grows and adds multiple offices and locations, your need to manage and protect your records remotely grows as well. Learn to tackle the challenges that arise as you connect with a dispersed workforce.
No matter the size of your business, records management matters. Here’s what midsized businesses should consider as they retain and manage a rich and growing array of electronic and paper-based records.
When lawsuits are filed, email is a prime target and often comes under great scrutiny. That’s why businesses should store and manage email files with the same care as paper-based records and other electronic file formats.
Follow these six steps to set up a smart, practical records and information management (RIM) program that will serve you well and grow along with your business.
Too often, businesses end up with a records management system that is complicated, difficult to enforce, time consuming and leaves documents where they can be challenging to access.
Most banks and other financial institutions in the United States are facing an unusually challenging climate when it comes to avoiding fraud.
With 2012 just around the corner, it is time for businesses to begin considering operational changes for the new year.
Never mind paper records management: Your organization’s electronic records will likely grow at an alarming pace. Here’s how to manage them safely.
Go ahead. File it any way you want. But will you find it later? The ultimate success of your records management program depends on your ability to retrieve quickly what’s needed for business, litigation or compliance events. A sound indexing method can help you organize your records madness.
The U.S. Battleship Arizona was struck by a bomb during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the ship sunk to the bottom of the harbor in the tragic prelude to the U.S. entry into World War II. Now, 70 years after the event, archivists are attempting to restore recovered personnel records from the Arizona for a special display in recognition of the sacrifices made that day, St. Louis Today reported.
Records management matters, but is your staff on board? Training is imperative so they’ll understand why secure and confidential information management is so critical to your business.
The recording industry looks to Iron Mountain’s advanced best practices for preserving, archiving and, in many cases, restoring some of the world’s greatest recorded musical works.
Records management and storage can be challenging enough to create problems for businesses with a single office. Companies with multiple branches spread over numerous locations face an even more difficult document storage environment, as they face many unique challenges.
If productivity and operational gains aren't enough incentive for companies to begin practicing better records management programs, then maybe they should consider the benefits for protecting the organization during litigation.
Detectives tracking down criminals and street officers prowling cities to fend off crime often depend just as much on background records as they do on the tools directly at their disposal. Adequate policies for filing and document storage have an operational and long-term impact on how a police force functions.
When organizations establish their records management and document storage policies, it can be tempting to focus only on specific regulatory guidelines or operational needs. This creates a reactionary file management policy. While these can be effective, especially to deal with short-term problems, they often create long-term issues because the narrow focus of the management strategies ends up missing important details.
Government organizations, whether they are federal agencies or small town utility companies, face the same challenges that private businesses deal with when it comes to document storage. They have to address regulatory standards for personal information, protect corporate data from criminals and preserve financial records for a variety of purposes. However, they also face the unique issue of accountability to the public.
The legal industry is one sector that has clung to paper records, and with good reason. The sector is highly dependent on well-managed records that are accessible, secure and preserved for an extended period of time. This makes document storage a major challenge for law firms because it presents diverse and unique challenges.
When most businesses think about regulatory compliance, they tend to focus on IT initiatives and efforts to safeguard data on servers and other technological systems. However, many regulatory guidelines also apply to paper records that businesses maintain.
The U.S. economy may or may not be on the path to recovery, depending on who you ask. But regardless of whether the recession will continue, many businesses are operating under carefully-designed fiscal restrictions to avoid taking too many monetary risks. As a result, most organizations cannot afford to overspend on any area of operations, and too many companies may be spending too much on records management and document storage.
Poor document storage and records management can create an unsafe workplace. While the business and security side of properly handling files are definitely substantial, businesses and government organizations cannot afford the possibility of an unsafe work environment.
For most small businesses, an employee never has just one position. Instead, each worker carries a diverse range of roles, such as acting as an administrative assistant and human resources helper at the same time.
There is much for a small business owner to think about when first launching a company. However, it's important that the need to store and maintain paper records does not go overlooked, according to a recent report from the Christian Science Monitor.
With the holiday shopping season about to enter full bloom, it can be tempting for retailers to focus so heavily on generating sales that they neglect key areas of operation.
It’s time to get ambitious about the year ahead. Get ready for 2012 by indexing, imaging, storing and purging all of those records you haven’t had time to organize during the year.
Have you been too busy actually attending to your core business to address records-management best practices? You haven’t committed a crime, but you may be wasting your organization’s time and/or resources. Consider this short list of rules to turn your plan around.
So you’ve decided to purge your garage of useless former treasures? Just sacrifice a Saturday afternoon and make it happen. But at the office, eliminating your company’s unneeded records requires careful planning. Here’s how to do it.
Are boxes of records turning your workplace into something you’d see on a cable-TV reality show? Here’s why it makes sense to seek some outside assistance.
There’s only so much an administrative assistant can do to facilitate a sound records management system. Here’s the why and how of creating an entirely new role in your organization to master this awesome task.