The Most Common Excuses Not to Consider Document Management

Excuse #1: If we need to, we can usually find it.

We usually find the information when a customer calls. Sometimes it might take a little while, but we send out emails to all staff asking for the information, and usually, it eventually shows up.

Reality:

Sure, given enough time, people usually can come up with the information they need. Most of there it’s a business reason that triggers the search, not a legal imperative. But when that lawsuit does arrive with its legal discovery pressures, finding that particular document has been described as finding a needle in 20 haystacks – with a gun pointed at your head.

Either way, there is a cost associated with it which tends to be exorbitant in an unmanaged environment. Consider that the typical office worker spends 40% of his time looking for information, and then do the math. Taking a few simple steps to index your content for ready retrieval could certainly save much strife later on.

Excuse #2: No one is ever going to sue us.

We won’t ever end up in court -- who would want to sue us? I’m sure if push comes to shove, we can find whatever we need to defend ourselves.

Reality:

The old business adage is that it’s not a matter of if but when you will get sued. The sad truth is that you don’t have to do anything wrong to have a lawsuit brought against you. But if you can demonstrate that you can readily produce documentation that counters the claim, the whole matter may simply go away before it ever gets started.

For example, consider a dispute over a change made to an employee’s work policy. Being able to prove in a preliminary meeting that the change was properly authorized likely would keep the problem out of court – but this can’t happen without a system for tracking and auditing your  forms.

Even if the case does go forward, you still must be able to produce court ordered documents in a timely manner or face fairly significant penalties. Morgan Stanley, for instance, once was fined $1.6 billion in part for lying about its ability to produce email evidence.

Consider information management as a sort of litigation insurance policy – if you ever need it, you’ll sure be glad it’s there.

Excuse #3: We aren't at risk of getting flooded out .

Sure, when we see all those paper documents floating around after a flood on the news, we feel bad for those people. But that won’t happen to us.

Reality:

This is the one area where everyone agrees there is risk -- but few actually take action before it’s too late. And while you may not be near a flood plain or a faultline, disaster recovery encompasses much more than floods, tornadoes, and wildfires. Leaky roofs, malfunctioning sprinkler systems, and even careless coffee drinkers can cause the kind of data loss usually ascribed to “acts of God”.

Take logical steps to protect yourself. Make backups of your electronic files. Scan older and/or inactive paper records – simply moving them offsite will still put your records at risk. Using web-based applications (such as Software as a Service) will help you recover after a disaster happens. Set established policies to govern which documents move where, according to what timetable, and for how long before they are destroyed. Then maybe you can afford to ignore the dangers threatening your documents – at least until that next cup of coffee is poured.

Excuse #4: Information security just isn’t at the top of our list.

We lock the doors at night and keep the HR files locked. And we use passwords on our computers. We enjoy being flexible. If people want to take information home and work on it on their home computers, that’s a good thing -- we trust our employees.

Reality:

Knowing who accessed what, and when, is a big deal in compliance circles. Further, good practice, if not always the law, requires that you maintain and review logs of all system and user activities. Sure, your employees may be dependable. But what about the hacker who tries to break in over your VPN? What about the company laptop that sits at the employee’s home and gets stolen – along with all the information on it? At that point, no amount of physical security at your office is going to help, as the cat’s already out of the bag.

And by the way – there are other security breaches that have nothing at all to do with people. Consider the tornado, hurricane, or earthquake that breaks your outer office windows and scatters the contents of your files all over the neighborhood. How secure is that information then? For sure, your customers, your legal counsel, and all of your regulators will want to know.

Excuse #5: Change is expensive.

When I need to get an invoice approved, I just put it in the right department’s mailbox at the front desk. They usually pick it up in a few days and sign it. We file it and then every few years pack up the old files and send them to off-site storage. Why spend money to automate something this simple?

Reality:

It’s not really that simple. There are business rules and document policies embodied in this seemingly straightforward process, but they’re invisible and thus impossible to document, improve, replicate, teach, or defend if queried by a litigator or disgruntled shareholder seeking better governance.

Who’s authorized to grant the approvals? Up to how much money does that authority extend? Who decides when the old files get packed and moved offsite? What are the criteria for moving them, and how long do they stay there? Ever try pulling documents from that storage facility? The fees to get your documents back can be exhorbitant!

Every one of these questions must have an answer – and if you take the time to pursue that answer, you may find that not changing your processes is far more expensive than doing so.

The story is told of a city attorney’s office that was so overloaded with work that it had to farm out 75% of its cases, and paid some $300 per hour for that outside help. Then it started scanning legal documents directly into its case management system, and it began working so much more efficiently that it could handle more of the work itself – at a cost of just $75 per hour. So while there was nothing wrong about the way the old process worked, the new one is a whole lot less expensive, and generates savings each and every time it is used.