Get Your Team in Tune with Records Management

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.

Your business runs on information, and it’s up to you to manage and protect it. Your team truly runs your business, so it’s also your job to ensure that employees throughout your organization understand why information management matters. They need to learn to do whatever it takes to build and maintain an optimal information management system.

Yet it’s not happening: The reality is that for many organizations, training has become a low priority. In a cross-industry study conducted by Iron Mountain, only 7 percent of respondents said they offer regularly scheduled training on all aspects of records management. A slightly more encouraging 37 percent offer occasional training, but 28 percent provide no training at all. You should strive to do much better than that.

A trusted partner can help both with records management and personnel training. The first task, of course, is to explain to your staff why good data management and backup practices lubricate your company’s business processes. Does everyone understand these important points?

• Move some files aside. You should identify and prioritize vital information, reviewing it for relevance so that you can store nonessential and older files. 

• Records management boosts efficiency. By removing less useful or inactive files, you’ll foster faster overall workflow.

• Triage is crucial. You can’t protect your information until you understand what you’ve got and how you should store it. 

• Business continuity is vital. Avoid downtime by making sure all your vital records are thoroughly backed up and easily accessible when you face a natural disaster or system meltdown.

• Complying with federal and state regulations is crucial. Laws mandate the proper protection—and destruction—of sensitive data in your records. Lower-level employees may not yet grasp the serious ramifications to your business if data management processes don’t comply.

• Hunting for records isn’t the best use of your staff’s time. Learning how to index and archive records the right way ultimately frees up time. Employees should focus on your core business, not on digging up old reports from dusty files. Chances are everyone will agree with you on this.

Get Employee Buy-In

Knowledge is power. You can’t expect employees to change their daily habits unless they understand why that’s important. Some rules seem obvious, but how many of your colleagues don’t even have a password on their smartphone? Everyone can use some coaching on the basics of security and secure information procedures. Clearly communicate the procedures you want to implement, and make sure that staffers who will actually carry them out day after day are well trained and understand why these rules and regulations matter. Your partner can help with this task. 

Any new records management system, especially one that works in coordination with offsite storage and retrieval, will require a staff shakedown. You should test storage, backup and recovery, and include staffers who will be responsible for those tasks. You may even want to throw a few monkey wrenches into the works to see how your new system (and your staff) responds to glitches.

After training your staff and testing your system, you should be able to enforce a zero-tolerance policy on careless handling of vital business information. 

Note: It’s not just about getting buy-in from below. Make your case to upper management, too, and use potential savings as your selling point. Because money talks, try to articulate the savings inherent in a streamlined records management system that involves offsite storage with a trusted partner and results in better security and more efficiency. Remember: Data loss is not an IT issue; it’s a business issue. Everyone up and down the ladder should understand this point if your plan is to succeed. 

Get Some Lift: Training Tools

The demands of your work most likely preclude you from building a comprehensive records-management training curriculum. Thankfully, your records management partner can help you design a training and communication plan that will achieve your program goals and get all your employees on board with your records management policies and procedures.

Seek out training content tailored to your specific needs and objectives. Look for courses designed for every type of worker, including administrators, technicians, systems managers, help desk personnel and data center managers. Plenty of options are out there, whether you want online instruction or classes held in your office or offsite.

With the help of a strong strategic partner, records management can transform from a daily annoyance into an important tool to optimize your daily operations and improve your bottom line.

Do you have more questions about your firm’s records management options? Read additional Knowledge Center stories on this subject, or contact Iron Mountain’s consulting services team. You’ll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your information management challenges. 

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