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Information Management - The Fly in the EDRM Ointment
As the judge in Earles has observed: "One expects a major high street Bank in this day and age of electronic records and communication with an in house litigation department to have an efficient and effective information management system in place to provide identification, preservation, collection, processing, review analysis and production of its ESI in the disclosure process in litigation and regulation". Although we are not in a position to comment upon the sophistications of the particular bank's technology, we can say from our experience that Information Management (IM) is the most flawed component of the EDRM.
IM's imperfections are particularly noticeable when placed within the context of Information Lifecycle Management (ILM). The Butler Group, for example, has noted that "little more than 10% of organisations have a fully developed Information Lifecycle Management strategy". In other words, approximately 90% of organisations have neither a policy nor a plan for managing information from cradle to grave, although, in many cases, this is relegated to particular categories of information.
Organisations such as banks pour vast sums into ERP systems to provide them with information that they hope will make them both more competitive and more profitable, but as one moves away from the profit incentive for investment in technology the sums allocated to IT dwindle rapidly. Let me provide an example from the world of managing compliance obligations.
While the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of a major multinational corporation were virtually begging for a system that would enable them to manage the risk inherent in their legal and regulatory compliance obligations, the company was spending hundreds of millions on a financial system that incorporated the requirements for the Internal Control of Financial Reporting, which has a high profile under both Sarbanes-Oxley and The Combined Code of Corporate Governance. The key term here is "financial", which resonates fulsomely in the Boardrooms of major companies throughout the world. Laws, statutes, regulations and their attendant compliance obligations, on the other hand, well, what did they ever add to the great yawning money maw?
The lawyers were put in a queue and told that IT would eventually get round to fulfilling their requirements, which, to their dismay, meant having to wait three years, i.e. they were nowhere on the IT radar screen. There are, of course, exceptions that prove the rule, but these normally involve hefty sanctions and the threat of serious damage to the company's reputation.
So, when the lawyers call to say that they need to collect transfer sheets for a particular range of dates be thankful that first, anyone knows where they are; and that second, they can be searched and retrieved with minimum fuss. Now, if you were asking in what market sectors in the UK the bank was most profitable, well that's a different story entirely.