Information Governance – Risks and Opportunities PART III

Since Information Governance (IG) has been established as an asset in our previous blog, let’s review some of the principals of IG.

First, unmanaged information can be risky and costly. You have the physical storage of paper, time and resources to manage the paper and the exposure to theft, natural disasters and the liability of security and non compliance. The same can occur with employees storing data on local drives, the cloud or even Smartphone’s.

Well governed information overcomes that challenge by utilizing technology not only to create but to leverage data for predictive insights and a better understanding of business. Most Industry Analysts agree that Information governance is about three things:

Reducing Costs, Minimizing Risks, and Optimizing It’s Value

Heightening the need is natural disasters that put our physical records at risk. If you think about every year, the fires, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes that occur and destroy your records…and now COVID challenging us to work remotely.

Also heightening the need is regulatory compliance. Enron is the poster child which resulted in Sarbanes Oxley which is not just for financial institutions but is applicable to everyone. In the Banking Industry the regulations from DODD Frank are the standard, in Medical its HIPAA, and Finance is FINRA. There is virtually no sector that is immune to regulatory compliance. Now add GDPR and California’s 2018 Data Privacy Act (and many other states have followed) and you find yourself in need of tools to maintain compliance with these new laws.

ECM tools offer workflow and automation

These processes can shorten the time frame to route documents into an ECM Solutions. They provide simple or complex workflows and can reduce operating costs and human errors while utilizing staff to address exceptions and other manual processes. Compliance and security reduce liabilities and costs IF IMPLEMENTED. Organization that implement Information Governance can gain predictive insights to their business AND their customers.

The risks and opportunities of IG are the high. There are fines, productivity and cost storage while the benefits include time to market and predictive insights for long term growth. Organizations must move towards these initiatives or the will be forced to comply or eventually close their business.

ECM and Information Governance can be complex. Capture can include paper, digital files from local drives and other Line of Business Software. Collaboration can be within the organization or outside the firewall. Implementing a retention policy, creating standards for metadata are key for a successful ECM solution. They will thrive and show their value during an audit or e-discovery.

Trending today are remote office workers, automated lifecycle management, enterprise capture, auto classification, security, enterprise application integration, business process automation and advance analytics. IG Initiatives are launched as a result of legal and e-discovery and risk management. They may start when the volume of data grows more each year, they can be initiated by the sources and data types which are getting more complex and, paper and digital files need to be archived and put into a retention policy.

So, ask yourself:

What are your organizations compliance obligations? How likely does the organization think they are at risk for a hack attack? Are you compliant with GDPR and California Privacy Act (or other states)? Is Information viewed as an asset and can it be leveraged.

Its time start the conversation if you haven’t already. Talk about the solutions and benefits, not just the technology. Start a Pilot project to help provide a proof of concept. Assess vendors and analyze their skills and expertise and finally, enhance and expand on your successes.

At Graphic Imaging Services, we have experience as relationships with key industry experts to help your organization identify and begin your Information Governance Policy. Call our office to learn more. Graphic Imaging Services, Inc. 702 222-3590 or visit www.graphicimaging.net