Day 1 of the 53rd Annual ARMA conference here in Las Vegas is winding down, and as we gear up for tonight’s welcome party, here are a few notes on the days events.
There is a palpable “the time is now” buzz in the air here. This idea was the thrust of the great presentations at this morning’s opening event by John Frost, President of ARMA international, and keynote speaker David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous.
We live in an information-rich age where mismanaging this information can have serious consequences for organizations, and it is the job of records managers everywhere to step up to the plate. Records and information management is now truly in the spotlight as a discipline!
After the opening event, conference-goers streamed into the exhibit hall, and we were very, very excited by the number of people that came by the booth. There were new faces and some old friends, and it was a great day of learning and sharing. Despite the crush at the booth we did manage to get out to some of the excellent seminars in the afternoon. Some highlights:
Global Records Management- The P&G Story
Randy Moeller; W. Ray Beecraft
You think you’ve got a challenge trying to get your people to stick to your RM program? Imagine the up-hill battle facing Proctor & Gamble, with approximately 122, 000 employees spread over 80+ countries.
They wanted to establish a 100% complete records management review every year, and they certainly had their work cut out for them!
After a few iterations, they developed a highly successful model that relied on a web-based resource and training component (i.e. a site that all employees could access that would answer RM questions from the most basic to the most complex) combined with a hands-on training element they would conduct with key-stakeholders in person, in their offices.
The most interesting thing though was they said the key ingredient in the success of their program was the backing of the CEO, COO, and Chief Legal Office. The message here is that you can frame the importance of RM in terms of drivers like efficiency and cost until the cows come home, but until you have the boss behind it, your chances of success of success are limited.
RIM: The Next Three Years
April Dmytrenko, CRM, FAI; Wendy Shade, FAI; Deb Gearhart, CRM; Julie Gable, CDIA, CRM, FAI; Jim Coulson, CRM, FAI; Christine Ardern, CRM, FAI; TAD Howington, CRM, CA, FAI
This was an excellent, excellent joint presentation by seven leading RM professionals looking at what is ahead for in the next three years. Here are some of the points they raised, definitely food for thought:
- IDC is saying by 2011 there will be 10 times the info generated in 2006
- Gartner says that in the U.S. right now there are 8500 regulations that affect the management of records
- RM that focuses on paper alone will lose out to IT
- There will be exponential growth as regulations expand outside the finance industry, and legal and compliance issues will be at the forefront
- Organizations are going to base RM decisions and spend on risk management, probability and outcome will inform what they tackle, so the focus will be on high-risk areas that can be solved with technology
- RM will continue to have to create tangible ROI, including litigation and compliance, cost avoidance, and improved business process, and RM MUST deliver on this within 18 months
- Legal and IT groups will give way to RM-we are now at the implementation phase, the rules have been set, but in economic climate only hard dollar ROI projects will get greenlighted
- Projects around compliance risks will only get funded in those cases where the penalties are high
- RM is going to be leading the way because they are going to translate business processes to IT and legal
- In future, records managers will have to be come more nimble and adaptable, with the foresight to see what is coming even before your vendors do
- Business are beginning to realize that socialization of information makes that information more valuable
Tomorrow is Day 2, and we will be bringing you further updates from the floor of the show, as well as summaries of the seminars we can get to. Stay tuned!
