ARMA Live! 2017 was a strong show with a clear call to action for the attendees be they ARMA members or partners in the Records and Information Management and Information Governance markets.
Multiple speakers addressed the rapidly changing, knowledge-driven world in which we live. They highlighted the pressures and risks facing companies as they run their businesses while dealing with the increasingly complicated task of protecting their information assets. RIM and IG professionals are increasingly well positioned to partner with IT teams as well as Offices of Risk Management and Legal departments as they frame policies and safeguards for data protection and privacy. Data protection starts with basic tenets of knowing where information resides and ensuring that retention and IG policies are applied to reduce exposure to data breaches which seem to be a matter of when, not if. Who better to bring that insight and ability to the table than RIM professionals who regularly deal with records archives as well as digital records storage and management.
Information Governance was a pronounced theme of the conference.
There was guidance on the full spectrum of topics, from creating an IG policy to ensuring integration of new forms of records and communications, to retention management programs, as well as a whole set of software tools, consultancies and partners to help guide the journey. GDPR, the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation came up in numerous presentations, and frameworks for assessing impact and compliance-driven changes were also shared and discussed in the context of working these practices into broader corporate IG policies.
Digital transformation was another recurrent theme.
It’s clear that a hybrid paper and digital world is the reality for the foreseeable future. Attendees were interested in understanding how to bridge this hybrid world, and it seemed like this was a constant conversation happening in Access’s booth. Solutions like FileBRIDGE® for HR, which enables retention management, legal holds and audit response integrated with HR-specific business workflows, offer a glimpse into how solutions that incorporate software, conversion services and records storage can be combined to provide an end to end solution for HR and RIM professionals.
RIM professionals must lead the charge.
Our time at ARMA Live! made one thing clear: RIM professionals must proactively engage across their organizations and bring forth their expertise to help lead their companies through the chaotic and shifting information and data landscape. It’s time for RIM leaders to be change agents and leaders in creating sound solutions for their organizations.