It seems that the Records and Information Management profession faces an annual need to justify its very existence. Lucky for RIM practitioners, the profession will continue to grow and have "legs" for many years to come. Here are 5 things that YOU as a Records Professional can do to raise your program’s value within your organization:
• Make your Records program about customer service first and foremost. Records Management is and always will be a support function so staff must be trained on proper etiquette and client facing interaction
• Become knowledgeable of the myriad of Records and Information based standards that exist such as: ISO 15489-1 and the MOREQ standards for electronic records
• Become a champion of your organization’s Document Retention policy and be ready to train end users on proper compliance
• Become not simply Records Managers but Content Managers. Know how the Big Data revolution will impact the profession going forward
• Learn to "speak IT." Every Records Professional should have a mastery of at least one programming language, specifically related to databases. SQL or a derivative language would be optimal
To all of the young people (of which I still consider myself), you would be well advised to consider a career in RIM. There is room for you in this profession. Solving the issues related to the massive data spiral and governance challenges to name a few, will take every available mind. No longer is it necessary to "fall into" Records but rather a planned approach can be employed. Institutions of higher education recognize that RIM "has legs" and are adjusting their course offerings to reflect this (shameless plug: my own alma mater of Columbia University has a phenomenal M.S. in Information and Knowledge Strategy).
While business faces complex challenges, we are in a better position now than ever before to meet those challenges head on.
Alexander Campbell, M.S., ERMp
Records Manager
Cohen & Gresser, LLP
acampbell@cohengresser.com