Wow, it’s already the end of December. It’s been an exciting, busy, and fun year at RSD as we continue to work with our customers on addressing their information governance challenges. I know there are going to be dozens of articles on reviewing 2011 and predicting the next big trends, I thought it would be fun to combine 2011 pop culture with trends we will most likely see information governance in 2012. Also included at no charge are ten recommendations for 2012.

Album of the Year: 21 from Adele

“Here's a fire starting in my heart, reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark”

Historically, records management was a corporate function buried in the basement or locked away in the dark somewhere in some offsite storage facility. Records mangers were focused on paper records, ensuring records were retained in a reliable and authentic manner and are ultimately disposed of in accordance with a retention schedule. Today, things are much different. Management of corporate information is becoming a topic of discussion at the executive level because of the consequences of information mismanagement  – brand damage, stock price, fines, and revenue. This is precisely why the records management function is beginning to report to general counsel and getting a seat at the table where strategic decisions are being made.

2012 Prediction: I don’t want to be the hundredth person to tell you to get executive buy-in for your records management program. This is going to be a slow process. I suggest starting to create awareness in your organization, starting with your peers (in other functions) and making this part of the department/corporate objectives.

Book of the Year: Unbroken from Laura Hillenbrand

“Though all three men faced the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates”

Information management applies to everyone in the organization – regardless role, level, or jurisdiction. One of the top challenges facing companies is determining who owns this problem. Some say it’s legal, others claim IT, and a few maintain the business owns it. This is just one of the reasons why the current process is broken. Organizations must develop an overall governance strategy that includes a closed-loop records management program – from policy creation time through policy enforcement over the decades-long lifecycle of corporate records. These strategies must be also aligned with IT reality and cost constraints with a well-defined set of stakeholders, policies and procedures. The program’s objectives are to advance the corporate compliance agenda, mitigate risks and improve value of information. The tactics of the program consist of applying “legally defensible” governance controls over corporate information throughout its entire lifecycle.

2012 Prediction: IT is going be driving more and more projects to support the information governance program. According to a December Gartner report (G00227336), by 2016, 20% of CIOs in regulated industries will lose their jobs for failing to implement the discipline of information governance successfully.

Movie of the Year: Transformers 3

“You simply fail to understand, that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...”

Information governance policies and objectives cannot and should not be developed in a vacuum. You must get consensus throughout company on policy, then add local stipulations. Policies should also incorporate attributes associated with the business, IT, legal, and compliance:

• Retention/disposition (i.e. when can we safely delete information)
• E-discovery (i.e. legal hold, data map)
• Data privacy (i.e. Personally Identifiable Information)
• Storage lifecycle (i.e. automatic tier migration)
• Metadata lifecycle management (i.e. keeping full text index for the life of the record)
• Laws and regulations (i.e. justification around the policy)

2012 Prediction: Expanding existing policies to include all of these elements will take time; certainly beyond 2012. However, in the near-term (that’s 2012), many more multinational organizations will consider jurisdiction-specific rules and include the business owners in the policy development process. According to a recent Forrester Report; 53% are not satisfied with their records management solution’s support for international requirements.

App of the Year: Words with Friends

“Word building, triple score seeking, chat bubble sending goodness with simple and familiar gameplay you know and love”

SharePoint 2010. Enough said, right? Well, sort of. Take it from me, SharePoint has certainly dominated the market this last couple of years. One of the reasons is because it’s simple to use and integrates well into the Office environment. The big question on the table is the impact SharePoint has on an information governance program. As usual, some companies have addressed this pretty well. If you haven’t, here’s a hint: start with your policies.

2012 Prediction: SharePoint 2010 came along way in terms of records management functionality and you will hear more and more case studies on how (and why) organizations are standardizing on SharePoint.

Final Words

Based on what I am reading and hearing from our customers, 2012 will be an exciting year for information management professionals. Top ten 2011 takeaways and suggestions for 2012:

1. Why not, boil the ocean at once.
2. Don’t forget about “Small Data”.
3. Understand the impact of records management on social media (this blog is a record, so there!)
4. I personally prefer “reactive” e-Discovery, don’t you?
5. Use the cloud for everything…and yes, I mean everything.
6. Job security: everything you do should not be repeatable or defensible.
7. eDiscovery, records management, information governance are not the same sides of the same coin. I am sorry, that’s just not possible.
8. Information governance means what you want it to mean.
9. Explain SharePoint 2010 governance to users. They will appreciate it.
10. Have fun and to quote the late Steve Jobs, “Think Different”.

Happy Holidays and New Year.