Anne asked earlier this week if we can clarify the value of efficient information management. And: can it be translated into a profitability statement? Jesse provided good statistics on email use and discovery related costs. As he pointed out, there are resources available to help quantify costs. You likely have specific incidents within your own organization that you can point to as lost or down time due to ineffective processes and tools. Lack of metadata models and classification structures, inaccurate off-site storage inventories, inconsistent organization of shared drives are all common complaints we hear from our clients. This is just a start and you can name more. Impacts, though, must be multiplied for every member of your organization. This is compounded, too, when you need information at critical times, such as for an audit or discovery, and you just can’t put your hands on it.

I’ve heard clients say that money budgeted for projects in 2009 has been reallocated or that projects have been deferred until economic conditions improve. I certainly understand this and have to agree in a number of circumstances. I have also seen projects move forward, though, despite current economic conditions and that makes me wonder if some of us have a clearer understanding of how to quantify RIM efficiencies and improvements. Of course, this depends on executive sponsorship and endorsement and just how highly RIM is prioritized within the organization. Even so, can’t we influence this?

My question, then, is this: If we step back, evaluate, and prioritize, will we be more successful in securing funding for RIM initiatives, especially if we include the “marketing” and communications aspects that we sometimes overlook? Can we structure and package our initiatives and projects so that they are more likely to get the go-ahead? Some considerations:

• Are there corporate-wide initiatives that you can align with?
• Can you partner with groups in your organization, such as IT, Operations, or Legal, to provide an integrated solution to some of your pain points?
• Along the same lines, what can you leverage from earlier or on-going initiatives, whether within RIM or external to it? For example, do you have access to process mapping and data gathering efforts from a system implementation that can serve as a key input for a RIM project?
• Have you re-evaluated priorities and focused on areas that that will substantially reduce risk or improve efficiency and suggested these are near-term activities, deferring other activities where it makes sense?

I’ll risk stating the obvious: the reality of our strained economy is that it is now more critical than ever to operate efficiently. Operating efficiently, though, means we must continue to improve records and information management in our organizations, whether through process or technology enhancements or through adjustments to our RIM organizations and service delivery models. This is the paradox: doing more with less and doing it even better! If we can accomplish this, though, surely we’ve demonstrated the value of efficient information management.