 |
|||||||||||
|
June 2009: In This Issue
Dear Records Manager,Good environmental practices are good for business, it is that simple. From the cost savings associated with resource conservation to increased consumer and shareholder confidence, proactive steps to protect the natural environment can directly translate into an improved bottom line. With this in mind, we've created an assessment tool that will help you determine how environmentally friendly your records management program is. This month we are very proud to introduce the tabZEROfile! This is a breakthrough in green filing, perfect for organizations looking to reduce their impact on the environment. And we've also got the results from our Green RM survey! We value your feedback. If you have any questions, or want to discuss any of the issues raised in this newsletter, please get in touch. Regards, 1. Green RM Breakthrough: Introducing the tabZEROfile!TAB is very proud to offer you tabZEROfile folders, a breakthrough in environmentally conscious filing. This is a American made, 100% recyclable, carbon neutral, acid free folder made from 100% recycled materials. tabZEROfile is the perfect folder for organizations that are doing all they can to reduce their impact on our environment. Get all the details here
2. How Environmentally Friendly is Your Records Program?
The good news is that there are direct business benefits associated with environmentally friendly practices:
Your organization's records management practices, choice of products and supplies can all profoundly affect your company's overall environmental footprint. So how environmentally friendly is your company's records management program? Answering the questions in our needs assessment tool will help you determine this and help put your organization on the path to more environmentally-friendly management of recorded information assets. The assessment looks at three areas:
Download this invaluable resource here! 3. TAB Consulting Services: Records Retention
When it comes to the environment, most organizations are doing what they can to make their RM programs greener. In fact, over 70% of respondents said that their organization had a program in place to address their environmental impact. In this article we'll take a look at what that means: what's driving the change, what impact that is having on corporate behaviour, and the actual steps organizations are taking to become more environmentally friendly. Green Drivers The environment is a contentious issue, and knowing what to do or even why you should do it can be confusing. One of the main arguments for taking action put forward by environmentalists is that being "green" makes sense because ultimately it is in line with our interests, business or otherwise. Our respondents seem to support that thinking, with well over half indicating that the cost savings coming from making more efficient use of expensive resources was the biggest single driver. Increasing consumer and shareholder confidence, as well as compliance with environmental regulations are also significant factors in driving green RM programs. Taking Action Ensuring that environmentally friendly RM products and practices are used wherever possible is a very effective and popular way to support green initiatives. In fact, our results show that this can go beyond simply modifying your purchasing patterns to include:
The data we gathered in this area did show a lag in addressing the reduction of packaging, however, with only 33% of our respondents indicating they had a program in place. The Electronic Answer One very significant trend that emerged from the survey was the increasing role that electronic format records are playing in the effort green RM programs:
That is great news for the environment! Changing Times Clearly, organizations and their RM personnel are concerned with making a difference when it comes to the environment. The reality is that greening your RM program can have a significant effect on your organization's environmental impact, which is just good business practice. RM looks set to continue to lead the way in this area, with the use of electronic records, imaging and transmissions comprising a significant part in the reduction of paper use. If you want to find our more about how to make your RM program more environmentally friendly, contact TAB today. 4. TAB's Roadmap to Compliance Series: Real World Q&A
To get the view from the frontline, we talked to our own Bob Duncan, Vice President of Consulting and Outsourcing, about some of the challenges organizations face applying and implementing records management programs. OR: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. What are you seeing when it comes to organizations applying the Roadmap or similar approaches? BD: Many organizations are doing the right things by building classification schemes, applying retention schedules, writing high level policies and procedures, and obtaining approvals. The real challenges come after that is completed. OR: Meaning in applying RM programs to their actual records collections? BD: Exactly. What we see typically is the finished RM program applied selectively, either to inactive records collections, electronic records, or active physical collections. OR: Why selectively? BD: The application and implementation process can be heavily influenced by particular business cultures, what is seen as imperative, and most significantly who it is that RM reports to. OR: Can you expand on that a little? BD: Sure. Typically, if RM reports to legal, they are concerned with governance initiatives like inactive collections. If they report to financial or facilities, they become concerned with the physical collections, efficiencies of space and the location and identification of records. If they report to IT, the focus becomes electronic records and collaboration). And so on. OR: So what is the downside to selective application? BD: When you take a pragmatic rather than a holistic view of RM, you may miss critical elements and leave your organization exposed to risk. OR: So how can RM break out of that selective application scenario? BD: There are opportunities for sure. When you have physical changes in your organization, RM can be come a part of that and drive a holistic approach. So if you are doing a move, acquisition or divestiture, for example, that becomes an opportunity for RM to broaden the scope by helping facilitate and manage that change. OR: Are there any other chances to broaden the scope of RM? BD: For sure, we call them the "ations". When change comes to an organization through litigation, legislations, regulation, or relocations, those are change drivers that allow a record manager to broaden and expand by helping the organization address the impact of these drivers. It is also, obviously, a great way to re-focus on the need for compliance. OR: There is a lot of talk about using technology to increase the profile of RM, can you comment on that? BD: Also a big opportunity. Take the oil industry. Right now a lot of the major companies get real time data transmitted from the wellhead. Why convert that data into paper records? It is easier to go electronic. Once RM integrates into the tech world, with electronic documents coming to the forefront, this is an area that gets funded and staffed. It has the attention of senior management, typically, and you can use that as a jumping off point for the whole program. OR: Any words of advice for a records manager trying to harness one of these change drivers? BD: Remember, and this is especially true of the technological driver, it represents both opportunity and risk. For example, technical teams don't understand record keeping, they need help with that, and that is an opportunity for RM to step in. The risk is that if RM doesn't understand where they play in that scenario, how they become an asset or consultant to the processes, they will be left behind. Be careful how you protect your program and don't get left behind! Bob Duncan has 30 years of experience within the Records Management industry assisting organizations in establishing physical and electronic records solutions to active and inactive collections. Since 2000 Bob's primary focus has been the development and implementation of corporate governance and electronic record keeping. 5. What Your Colleagues are Reading
These are some of our most popular recent downloads: Disaster Recovery & Vital Records in a Hybrid RM Environment: A Risk Management Action Plan Will your records management program help your organization resume operations in the wake of a large scale disaster? Protecting your vital records is the best way to ensure business continuity in the event of an emergency, but you can't just deploy a standard toolkit of safeguards. Your approach needs to take into account the requirements of the records and the risks involved. This process can be complicated, and has been made more so with the emergence of the "hybrid records management environment" where more and more file collections mix paper and electronic records. The good news is that like many challenges, the combination of vital records and hybrid record-keeping also brings opportunity. This Risk Management Action Plan details 7 steps for seizing that opportunity. You'll learn how to:
Download this valuable resource here! File Retrieval Assessment Tool Struggling with lost files or long retrieval times? This tool can help! We've worked with hundreds of organizations over the past 50 years to help them solve their file retrieval problems, and we've used that experience to develop this useful tool. Answering these questions will help you identify the root causes of any retrieval challenges you may be facing, and get you thinking about potential solutions and what those might look like for your organization. You can walk through this diagnostic tool on your own - or call one of our records management experts to help. You can download it here!
|
||||||||||
|
Join our mailing list | Remove your email from our mailing list | Privacy Policy | Send to a colleague To help ensure delivery of TAB's newsletter to your inbox, please add our email reply address (usnews@news.tab.ca) to your Address Book or Safe Sender List. If you do not wish to receive the TAB newsletter, please click on the link above or click here. You can also send mail to TAB US Headquarters, 605 Fourth Street, Mayville, WI 53050. |
|||||||||||
In 
Last month we looked at the 
Want to know what your colleagues are reading?