Despite increased pressure from regulators and courts, nearly half of American organizations still haven't adopted records retention policies for e-mail and other electronic documents, according to a new survey.

In the survey of 2,100 records and information managers, 49% of companies and government agencies have not adopted a records retention policy for e-mail. Over half (53%) do not include electronic records in their legal hold orders associated with regulatory inquiries and litigation -- leaving open the possibility that records critical to a legal matter could be destroyed. And, more than two-thirds (68%) don't have a plan in place to preserve electronic records that need to be migrated, to ensure the accessibility of the information over time.

The survey and associated white paper, "2005 Electronic Records Management Survey - A Renewed Call to Action" was conducted by Cohasset Associates, Inc. and co-sponsored by the two leading professional associations serving the records and information management profession, AIIM - the Enterprise Content Management Association and ARMA International.

According to Robert Williams, President of Cohasset Associates, "the majority of organizations surveyed are not prepared to meet many of their current or future compliance, legal, and governance responsibilities, because of the deficiencies in the way they currently manage their electronic records."

"E-mail and electronic documents have a life cycle - a life and a death - the same as any other record," explained John Mancini, president of AIIM. "This is a core principle of records management, but one not readily understood by many IT and business professionals. The need for implementing policies and procedures around electronic documents has never been greater than it is in today's business world."

This year's bi-annual survey findings showed a possible "turning in the tide". Sarbanes-Oxley and the increasing cost of litigation discovery have been the primary reasons many organizations begin addressing the problem. The survey gave special focus to the management of back-up and archival information - finding that the 2000+ responding organizations collectively manage over 130 million computer tapes, and two-thirds (67%) have varying levels of difficulty finding and retrieving information from this media. This discovery cost is an incredibly large and uncontrolled cost -- second only to health care.

While some organizations "have their act together," the research indicates that, for an alarming number, the job of records management is still not getting done. The survey's findings provide compelling reasons for senior management in business and government to focus much greater attention on their organization's records management performance, particularly the challenges associated with electronic records.
KW