The largest opportunity of “born-digital” records, is to make the business value of records “very soon, to me”.
Records are more valuable when they’re more useful.
When they’re critical on a day to day basis, they get executive support, investment and care.
Process workers treat them with reverence, and invest time in them.
They are valued.
Business value of records has always been difficult.
The value of keeping records has often been “just in case” it “might be valuable” to “someone”
The prize though, is now, and has always been “very soon, to me.”
When we take our eye off this, organisations invent whole other professions to do it.
Not making the value of our records “very soon, to me” is an existential threat to the Records Management profession.
What will be sad about this, is that there’s an up-swing in the recognition of the value of good records going on right now.
For the last three years, I’ve had a Google alert on a couple of topics around Record Keeping and Management.
What has been really surprising is that the academic papers coming through aren’t papers about records.
This excerpt is from a paper titled “Strategies for Quality Milk Production”
v) Proper record management and goals for udder health status
Proper record keeping is the essence of proper monitoring. Periodic review of the udder health management programme helps in timely corrective interventions. Establishment of realistic periodic targets for various udder health parameters is the final step of a complete udder health management program. The goals should be realistic.
This is about records that have value “very soon, to me”.
That’s the prize.
Either we will capture it, or another profession will.
Information Governance 