Digital Landfill

One of our readers of the following post asked whether we had any vertical breakouts for the following questions...vertical breakouts listed after each state in the following order...BANKING, INSURANCE, MANUFACTURING...

There is a natural tendency for those in the technology/solutions business to think that the most significant expense for end users concerned about compliance is or should be technology.  From the end user side of the equation, the most significant compliance expense is not technology, but areas that might be considered to be "softer" investments.

In response to the question, "With respect to meeting compliance requirements, what is your SINGLE GREATEST INVESTMENT?" 741 end users  note the following...

• Documenting policies and procedures = 41.4%
• Training employees = 26.9%
• Purchasing technology = 23.9%
• Engaging outside consultants = 7.8%

This is consistent with other AIIM studies that have noted the rising importance of change management and employee commitment concerns as the scale of implementation increases.  It also indicates that smart solution providers will make sure to position their offerings not only in technology terms, but also as a means to improve policy documentation and employee training.

The latest AIIM compliance survey demonstrates that users have an intuitive feel that “something” is wrong within their organizations relative to managing electronic information, but are having a difficult time mounting a systematic and disciplined approach to meeting the challenge.

1. Nearly 2 out of 3 end users (63.3%) have not yet analyzed the risk they face from the mismanagement of electronic information.
2. Less than 4 in 10 end users (38.6%) have created a central group focused on managing compliance efforts across the organization.
3. 42.6% say their organization “does not yet have a clear approach toward meeting compliance” requirements.

Here are some comments from end users from our most recent Industry Watch Compliance survey...

"Doesn't seem to be well coordinated - no real comprehensive vision - fragmented efforts."

"Only starting to evaluate the scope of the problem. Good intentions but very little progress."

"The fog is beginning to clear..."

"Chaotic and fragmented."

User concern about the process of information management-and the accountability and transparency of this process-seems to have crossed some sort of line in the past 12-18 months. End users understand that SOMETHING very fundamental is occurring and they must do something about it. Not "might" or "should," but" must" do something about it.

All this brings to mind the Churchill quote (or something close to it) in the heading...Most organizations are still at a very early stage in terms of addressing compliance concerns, but at least they are STARTING to address the issue.

According to advance data from a survey of 700+ end users by AIIM (www.aiim.org ), the "Weakest Link" in user efforts to control information for compliance purposes clearly is their handling of electronic information. [Note: The full survey, Compliance: It's Real, It's Relevant, and It's More Than Just Records, will be released on Tuesday, August 15.]

Organizations report a fairly high level of confidence in their management of paper-based information. Users were asked, "How would you characterize the overall environment related to managing and retaining the following types of critical PAPER information?"

For most forms of important PAPER documentation, 70-80% of end users feel a high level of confidence (or at least some degree of confidence) in their systems and processes. The real compliance gap in most organizations comes when users think about how they handle ELECTRONIC information.

For ELECTRONIC information, the results are far more sobering. A majority (over 50%) of end users report very weak efforts relative to: 1) Information on individual computer hard drives; 2) Information on individual portable devices (phones, PDAs, Blackberrys, etc.); and 3) e-mail. Clearly, the decentralization of information is getting more profound and more baffling by the day for those concerned about compliance, with 41.5% describing their handling of information on individual portable devices as "complete chaos."

The message here is that the "elephant in the middle of the table" relative to compliance is electronic information. Until organizations get serious about managing electronic information, they cannot hope to get serious about compliance.

The full survey, Compliance: It's Real, It's Relevant, and It's More Than Just Records, will be released on Tuesday, August 15. For more information, contact Beth Mayhew at .