Study Finds Firms Lack Confidence in Records PracticesStudy Finds Firms Lack Confidence in Records Practices

More than half of corporate executives (54 percent) have little or no confidence in their organization's ability to retrieve vital e-mail messages, while nearly half (47 percent) have little or no faith in their firm's electronic information management processes and procedures. These are just two of the standout conclusions (see tables) of a study being released this week by AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, at this week's AIIM Expo Conference & Exhibition in Boston.

The findings of AIIM's 2007 State of the ECM Industry Study are alarming in that many firms appear to be ill prepared to meet recently revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP) that went into effect last December. The new rules stipulate that companies involved in civil litigation must be able to provide electronically stored data as evidence earlier in the discovery process then ever before. To avoid penalties or lost courtroom battles, firms must understand where relevant data is stored and how to produce that information.

AIIM's study is based on interviews with 1,226 end users, with 52 percent from the US and 22 percent from the UK and Europe. More than half, 56 percent, represented large firms with more than 1,000 employees while 26 percent hailed from organizations with 101-1000 employees. All respondents ranked the top-five problems encountered in implementing document and records management programs as follows: