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Information is vital to every aspect of your business, from developing and delivering products and services to obtaining and retaining customers. If your employees cannot easily access the information they need when they need it, they cannot effectively and efficiently respond to customer requests, develop competitive bids, comply with laws and regulations, and operate the company in general. Some small and midsize businesses often misunderstand or dismiss records and information management as something only large corporations can afford to do. Successfully managing records and information starts at the desktop, and employees cannot do it without adequate training. It is critical that you make training a priority. Individual employees play a critical role in helping your organization comply and succeed in litigation, audits, document preservation, and daily records and information management tasks. Make sure they get adequate training on these topics. That training also needs to impress upon employees the importance of keeping information secure.

Information is vital to every aspect of pur business, from developing and delivering products and services to obtaining and retaining customers. If your employees can't easily access the information they need when they need it, they can't effectively and effiiciendy respond to customer requests, develop competitive bids, comply with laws and regulations, and operate the company in general.

Whether you have 10 or 1,000 employees, each one is responsible for managing corporate records and information appropriately, and each one needs to understand the consequences of not doing so. Being unable to access the information necessary to serve customers, deliver product, respond to a legal suit, or comply with laws and regulations governing your industry could lead to the company's eventual demise-and, consequently, the loss of employees' jobs!

With the explosion of information we create daily and the increase in government regulations, managing information assets is an ever-growing challenge. Managing e-mail, alone, has become a formidable task for organizations of all sizes, in all industries.

Even the courts are tightening the screws. The U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure dearly state that you're expected to know what information you have, where it's located, and how to retrieve it. In the event of litigation, you will also be expected to preserve and produce that information-whether recorded on paper or stored electronically-in a timely manner. The courts are aware that there are standards and best practices for managing records and information, and they expect organizations to be equally aware of them and practice them.

Perhaps the threat of litigation doesn't keep you up at night. Have you considered what you would do if your company's entire computer system crashed? It may be the result of a simple power outage or something more dramatic, such as a flood, fire, or tornado, or even sabotage by a disgruntled employee. What matters is that you've lost all your customer data, current contracts, accounts receivable records, and that big project bid you were dose to completing. Every hour you're down costs you money, customer goodwill, and credibility. Many smaller companies, especially, never recover from such a loss.

How quickly your company can be back up and running ultimately depends on how well you've managed your records and information up to that point. Do you have reliable backups of your vital information, such as contracts, employee records, and product specifications, in a secure, oflf-site location-far enough away from your building that it wouldn't be affected by the same natural disaster that might affect yours? Can you easily retrieve and restore that information onto the appropriate systems to get your business back up and running quickly? In other words, do you know what information you have, where and how it's stored, and how to retrieve and begin using it again, all in a timely manner?

If you didn't immediately answer, "Yes!" complete with the added emphasis, this would be a good time to take stock of how you're managing your corporate records and information.

REVIEW AND UPDATE

Some small and midsize businesses often misunderstand or dismiss records and information management as something only large corporations can afford to do. But, as Teri Mark explains in her book Organize Your Office: A Small-Business Guide to Managing Records, "The reality is that all companies, from the home office to the mega-corporation, benefit, both financially and produclively, from records management."

The following will help you get started in reviewing and updating your current program, no matter how large or small it is. As always, the best place to start is at the beginning: your records management policy and procedures.

Does your company have a formal records management policy that addresses how records and information will be managed? It doesn't have to be lengthy, but it should cover all your information assets, regardless of where they're located or how they're stored. Top managers must show their support of the policy by communicating their expectations for employees to comply with it.

Does the policy cover all records and information, regardless of whether they're stored electronically or in hard copy? The value of records and information is determined by their content and should be managed accordingly. (see the sidebar for tips on managing e-mail.)

Is there an individual or department specifically tasked with monitoring the policies, practices, and procedures your company follows in managing its records and information? It's critical that someone be responsible for this important element of your business and that they have the skills and knowledge needed to do the job.

Does the policy include procedures for keeping records to ensure that they're adequate, complete, authentic, reliable, My accessible, usable, and maintained in support of all business purposes for as long as they're required?

Does the policy include a records retention policy that identifies what types of records will be retained and for what purposes? This is the basis for a more detailed retention schedule, which governs all information and records based on their content.

Have you identified the specific laws, regulations, standards, and codes that apply to your organization and that stipulate how long certain records should be retained? Because each organization is unique, including the type of business, where it's located, and what regulations it's subject to, there's no standard, one-size-fits-all records retention schedule that your company can adopt, but there are models and guidelines to help you develop your own. Identifying the legal requirements that apply to your company, along with your company's business requirements, will help you determine how long your company must keep specific records and develop a unique records retention schedule. Be sure that you have a legal review of your retention schedule.

Are you routinely and consistently destroying obsolete information? Your policy should include procedures to securely and routinely destroy records when they're no longer needed to meet legal or business requirements-and to preserve records that are relevant to pending litigation. "Random or selective destruction may create the impression that the records retention program has not been properly implemented, and in the event of pending litigation or government audit, it can be viewed as intentional destruction," explains Mark.

TRAIN AND TRAIN AGAIN

Successfully managing records and information starts at the desktop, and employees can't do it without adequate training. They must understand how to manage e-mails, multiple versions of electronic documents, vital records, instant messages-and the list goes on. Everyone must be aware of what needs to be saved, when, where, and for how long; and when it's time for information to be disposed of, they must understand the processes for doing so.

That's why it's critical that you make training a priority. Individual employees play a critical role in helping your organization comply and succeed in litigation, audits, document preservation, and daily records and information management tasks. Make sure they get adequate training on these topics. Training should be provided as part of orientation and refreshed annually or more frequently based on changes in regulations, policies, or procedures.

That training also needs to impress upon employees the importance of keeping information secure. Today's employees are increasingly using their own personal Internetbased e-mail accounts, laptops, and PDAs for business purposes and moving files between these and company-owned work devices by way of thumb drives, SD cards, and iPods. This increased mobility and the ease with which these devices may be lost or stolen make training and enforcement of company policies and procedures regarding the security of company information assets, including the personally identifiable information of customers and employees, even more critical.

Many businesses are stretched to the limit on rime and staffing. Fortunately, there are outside resources available to you. There are consultants who specialize in this area. Word of caution: Be wary of vendors who try to sell you a software package as a solution to your records management needs. Technology is an important tool, not a self-contained solution.

For more resources, visit ARMA International at www.arma.org. ARMA International is a not-for-profit professional association and the authority on managing records and information. It's known worldwide for its standards, guidelines, and numerous other resources on all aspects of records and information management.