Paper Records Still Critical to Discovery

Despite the explosion in digital records, businesses in every industry are still generating massive amounts of paper. The manner in which these records are stored, and the ability or inability to locate and retrieve them when the company is sued, can significantly impact litigation. Having a records management program in place to identify, protect and access critical paper documents is as important as the ability to identify, sequester and access electronic records stored in the corporate data center. When paper records are not stored (or destroyed) in a secure manner, organizations put themselves in harm’s way.

The author provides some general guidelines for managing paper. Begin by reviewing your data inventory management program to ensure it adequately covers not just electronic data, but paper documents as well. The program should be able tell you what the company has in storage, where it is stored, who is in charge of it, how to access it and how long it will take to retrieve.

Re-examine the company’s records retention policy. Make sure it’s up to date from a compliance standpoint, and enforce the policy throughout the organization.  According to the industry group ARMA, 93 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have a document retention policy in place, but only 38 percent enforce it. If enforcement has slipped, the legal department is ideally suited to initiate a company-wide upgrade. Consider establishing a team of key stakeholders to review and enhance the policy.