New report reveals companies struggle with electronic records management

By EgovAsia Editors | Jan 29, 2010

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Iron Mountain, an information management services company, released its second Compliance Benchmark Report: Best Practices for Records Management, a review of how companies store and destroy business records in time for the annual international Data Privacy Day.

Key among the report’s findings is that while many organizations (80%) have command of the basics for managing physical records, less than one in four (23%) have established policies that cover electronic records – e-mail, images and other forms of digital data. This disparity is further complicated by several macro trends:  the explosive growth of electronic information; growing consumer concern about how their data is protected; the expanding regulatory environment governing records management; and heightened litigation demands.

"In our mission to help businesses solve information management challenges, we have developed a unique perspective on how companies should approach managing records," said Bob Brennan, president and CEO, Iron Mountain. "Simply put, managing records is about managing risk. The organizations who understand this have developed enterprise-wide programs that provide them quick access to information, manageable storage costs, and peace of mind that they’ve made good-faith efforts to comply with increasing regulatory requirements."

Iron Mountain’s Compliance Benchmark Report surveyed almost 3,500 individuals within public, private, government and non-profit organizations across varying industries and sectors to assess the state of records management compliance. Whilst the majority of the respondents were based in the US, a large portion of them represented international operations. The company publishes the report, in part, to provide a benchmark for its customers and other organisations to assess, improve and mature their records management programs.