Increasingly, today’s information management is about taking advantage of opportunities inherent in the information rather than just formulaically following pre-existing rules designed principally around compliance.
To be sure, risk mitigation is always going to be a major concern, but modern information management can help mitigate risks while also doing so much more. In some ways, the pandemic has proven the value of increased digital transformation and cloud-based information management. According to research from Forrester Consulting and software maker Adobe, more of than half of organization say that digital document processes and tools accelerate document processing (55%) and improve employee collaboration (54%). Nearly half additionally say they increase customer satisfaction (47%) and improve employee productivity (45%).
But realizing those kinds of gains requires modernizing the infrastructure of information management.
To that end, digital transformation is on the rise, though there’s a lot of room for improvement at most organizations. Forrester and Adobe also found that most organizations (72%) use a mixed paper-and-digital processes. Only 13% use digital processes exclusively.
Exclusive digitization isn’t necessary, but some degree of digital adoption is pivotal to meeting modern mandates. Unfortunately, many organizations remain in something of a defensive, reactive posture when it comes to managing records, data, and information. Legacy approaches may not need to be totally discarded to take advantage of a modern approach to information management, but the limitations of legacy do need to be understood and addressed by modern workflows. For example, legacy systems tend to involve a lot of manual labor to use, impose unnecessary costs, create information silos, and make finding and accessing information more difficult.
So, what does a modern approach to information management look like instead?
- It’s scalable. It can effortlessly accommodate growing numbers of records without requiring endless capital investments or additional manhours of labor.
- It’s flexible. It can be configured and adapted to changing conditions, and records management rules can be programmatically incorporated so all records will be subject to the same processes moving forward.
- It’s connected. It integrates with multiple systems together so that information can be aggregated, managed, and communicated seamlessly across an entire organization.
- It’s automated. It uses technologies like AI and machine learning to handle repetitive, time-consuming jobs, minimizing human labor on low-value tasks and freeing people to focus on high-value work.
- It’s mobile- and cloud-friendly. Today’s worker is always on the move. A modern information management system works in tandem in the ways in which modern workers complete their work, no matter where they are or what devices they’re using.
One word of warning: Before an organization decides to implement a modern solution, it is also important that it is thoroughly evaluated to ensure that it is able to meet the organization’s goals and objectives. This should include the security of the data and the ability to manage its various operations.
About PSL
PSL is a global outsource provider whose mission is to provide solutions that facilitate the movement of business-critical information between and among government agencies, business enterprises, and their partners. For more information, please visit or email info@penielsolutions.com.