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 1. Four Tips for Managing Your Electronic Records Successfully Manage Your Records in an Electronic Environment Organizations everywhere are now generating large volumes of electronic records thanks to the automation of everyday business activities such as financial transactions, engineering processes and basic communication. But this doesn’t mean that paper records collections are shrinking. In fact, organizations still need to retain physical copies of documents and files thanks to administrative and legal requirements. Add storage and technological restraints to the mix and you are faced with a complex RM challenge. So to help you successfully manage your electronic records, we’ve put together these 4 tips.
Download our full whitepaper! For a more detailed look at these and other tips as well as practical “how-to” information on managing electronic records, download our whitepaper. 2. Hybrid Survey Results: The Hybrid Environment is Now the Norm How are organizations handling the mix of paper and electronic records? It’s a big question for many of our readers, so earlier this year we created a survey to get an updated picture of a new records management reality: the hybrid environment. Our goal was to benchmark the data against a similar survey we conducted two years ago. And when we began to analyze the results, we identified some very interesting developments and trends. E-records enter the mainstream When more than half of our respondents said they had replaced at least 20% of their paper records with electronic versions, it became clear that e-record adoption has strong momentum. In fact, 14% of people reported that 80% of their records collection are now electronic! Compare this to our June 2008 survey results where over 50% of our respondents said that more than 80% of their record were still paper-based, and it isn’t hard to see that e-records are making huge inroads in the file room. Hybrid is now the norm Even as e-records adoption increases, it’s clear that paper records aren’t going away any time soon. None of our respondents said their organization was 100% electronic, and the vast majority of organizations are still using a significant mix of paper in their collections. Most significantly, almost 18% of respondents reported that 100% of their collection included both paper and electronic formats. Where two years ago the hybrid environment was a fairly new concept for many organizations, it is now clearly an everyday records management reality. The drivers: efficiency, collaboration, retention and compliance The efficiency and collaborative benefits associated with electronic records are clearly big factors driving organizations to adopt the format. Accounting and operational documents are by far the most popular targets for conversion, but there is also a wide array of other business functions that are starting to move to e-records. These numbers are in line with our last survey, indicating that workflow efficiencies are a big reason for conversions. Most interestingly, over 20% of our respondents indicated that easier records retention was also a factor in moving to electronic records, with around half that number citing the need to meet compliance requirements as a driver. Old challenges, new challenges When it comes to implementing a hybrid environment, the survey data closely mirrored our earlier results. The biggest challenges are still:
A new emerging challenge, identified by over 50% of our respondents, is applying records management best practices to shared drives within an organization. As the amount of electronic records proliferates, and increasing numbers of people within an organization store them on a central drive, the potential for a disorganized collection is very real. If these challenges sound familiar, download our whitepaper on managing your shared drive. Handling the new hybrid reality The survey results support what we see and hear every day when we work with our clients: mixed records collections are a normal part of records management in today’s business environment. So what’s the best way to handle the hybrid environment? At TAB, we think that the answers to these challenges lie in education and training of individual personnel in combination with the development of comprehensive records management programs designed to address electronic and paper content equally. If you’d like to find out how we can help you manage the hybrid environment, please get in touch. 3. On-Site RM Training Available Now! Today the call for qualified and trained records management personnel is unprecedented. Companies are generating more information than ever before, and the legal pressure to properly store, process and retrieve it is increasing. We’ve answered this call by creating our on-site corporate training program. The Training Comes to You New issues and challenges are continually emerging in the records management field, and without the right resources it isn’t always possible to keep up with the skills and learning required to address them. Created from TAB’s deep experience and knowledge, our corporate training services will bring your RM staff to where they need to be. Our experts will come to your organization and deliver a comprehensive program that will help you manage your records the right way to reduce risk, leaving you with more time and energy to focus on your core business. Customized Learning TAB’s experts can hold on-site classes and teach your staff about the methodologies and industry best practices they need to handle virtually any records management situation. From computer basics and refreshing existing skill sets to designing an RM program and handling electronic documents, our intensive courses cover everything you need to know about:
Learn How Our Program Can Work for You With the right training, records management professionals become an invaluable asset to any operation. Our program will arm your staff with the skills they need to:
4. Tips for Selecting and Implementing RM Software in the Hybrid RM Environment When you’re managing paper and electronic records in the same environment, a software solution may be the answer. A comprehensive and fully customizable system, such as our TAB FusionRMS, is an excellent way to track and store all of your information regardless of its form. However, simply choosing the right solution for your organization isn’t enough—you also need to apply sound RM methodologies and principles to that program. So to help you select and implement software in your hybrid environment, we’ve put together this whitepaper. In it you’ll get tips on:
5. What Your Colleagues Are Downloading Want to know what your colleagues are reading? Here are some of our popular downloads. RM Training: A Needs Assessment Tool How to you design and deliver the right records management training program? The key is to start with a needs assessment. This tool provides a starting point for cutting through the complications and contradictions that cloud your organization’s training objectives, putting you well on the road to addressing records management challenges, big and small. In it we’ll cover:
Demon strating Return-on-Investment for Records Management Initiatives Need to show the ROI on your RM Program? This guide will tell you how to do that! We'll give you a strategy for demonstrating records management's ROI based on hard and soft dollar revenue flows, reduced risk and improved long-term returns. A recent survey of OnRecord readers identified three main sources of hard and soft dollar return on investment for records management initiatives:
Download this invaluable resource here! |
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