Wed, Apr 20, 2016
By: Jacob Gilmore
Understanding the often complex details of records management is no easy job. If you handle records management for a business, you know it’s an ever-changing discipline that can be both exciting and frustrating.
Challenge #1: People
One of the most challenging aspects of records management at any scale is the fact that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people involved, many of which either don’t understand the procedures or don’t view them as important. Despite that, if you’re the records management coordinator, the buck stops with you, leaving you with a lot of responsibility.
Challenge #2: Policies
Records management is governed by a number of overlapping laws on the local, state, and federal level, some of which include confusing or even contradictory regulations and best practices. They’re always changing in one way or another, especially in regard to technology and digital record keeping. Adjusting your company’s policies as a result and communicating those changes out to your employees can be a confusing headache.
Challenge #3: Procedures
Then there’s the internal creation and communication of procedures to make sure employees remain compliant with these policies. With multiple people accessing so many documents and digital records for many different reasons, keeping it all straight and ensuring compliance is difficult. When employees work at different locations, in different time zones, and/or records are stored internally but in separate facilities, the complications are compounded even more.
#1 Solution
While there are rare Records Management Coordinators who have the special mix of patience, fortitude, organizational ability, and stamina to face all of these challenges successfully day in and day out, most find frustration to be the eventual result. Worse yet, they stop trying to keep all those balls in the air, and instead start letting the records management priorities fall, only to find themselves involved in a time-consuming situation or costly litigation.
To handle records management without the frustrations, what are your options?
The best option available is to partner with a professional records management company that can offer a full suite of services to help you tame your business records, guarantee compliance to all applicable regulations, and establish simple but effective procedures to ensure ongoing management is less stressful and more consistent. To learn ways to streamline processes like off site document storage and secure shredding, contact us today to learn how we can help.
