Brighton might well be King of the conference venues in the UK, but despite being in the IT industry for more years than I care to remember, IRMS 2013 was my first actual visit to the Conference capital of the UK. Being honest, the last few conferences I have attended have been further a field - London, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Paris – so it was with baited breath that I ventured out to Brighton (turns out it has great weather, great views and a top conference - who knew!). IRMS turned out to be a well organised, really well attended and reasonably diverse conference – not necessarily what I had been expecting.

The RSD Stand on the first evening was the most highly visited stand at the conference – our materials and exhibition graphics had been held up with Fedex, and those astute delegates took refuge in the stand with nothing to sell – or so they thought! People remembered us from last year because we had great pens. People even tweeted about our pens. The exhibition went from the formal to the frenzied, from cupcakes (offered by one of the exhibitors) to karakoe (on the first evening) to a black tie gala dinner (what makes a dinner a gala dinner?). I have never been to a conference before where there was sufficient champagne, but insufficient flutes – some were forced to take the bottle – it seemed like the right thing to do.

The conference itself was a great success in every respect. The delegates were treated to some excellent sessions regarding information governance, some interesting topics and absolutely were left with food for thought – I spoke with many people who seemed more open to the idea of Information not necessarily meaning records – more open to the idea of leveraging their existing investments and environments. I sensed more concern than ever before about SharePoint sprawl and an inability to regulate it, challenges around policy compliance, enforcement and diminishing resources. IRMS is a serious conference, lets face it - if companies get this wrong people can go to prison but I sensed something in the air in Brighton this week. Companies are adjusting their sails, the winds are changing, slowly perhaps but changing nevertheless.

I heard an excellent session on transferability of skills within RM and I took this conversation wider with many of the folks that I spoke with. RM departments may not have a simple reporting alignment within an enterprise – but increasingly it is becoming a real topic in the boardroom. It may not be about records in the traditional sense anymore but whether we discuss defensible disposition, retrieval and retention, policy creation, enforcement and compliance or even forensic analysis and e–discovery – what is clear is that those conversations are now about outcomes – enterprises are not only benchmarking policy but enforcing it,  individuals are becoming accountable, RM departments are closer to the boardroom than ever before. RM professionals are more widely desirable than at any point in their careers – the job is getting bigger, the remit scarier – the results much more measurable – the conferences increasingly interesting!

In 2008 RSD were one of; if not the first organisation to coin the phrase information governance – but what is evidently clear to me – is that information governance is no longer something which is coming, talked about in dark corridors of large enterprises – it is something which is here, in the now, something which is relevant to all of us and it is here to stay. The winds are changing and IRMS 2013 could be the first time where information governance became a mainstream term in the UK. IRMS confirmed to me that it’s going to be an exciting journey ahead. Not just for vendors – but for everyone involved in this space. Watch out Brighton – we will see you again!

Thanks to everyone who visited our booth, met with us, shared their thoughts and experiences – or simply made the conference the success it was. If you did attend but didn't get a chance to chat with us – then please contact us or leave a comment.