Collaborating for effective information governance.

• Author: Witer, Vicki
• Position: IN FOCUS: A Message from the Editor

Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." These words, from Ford Motor Company founder and noted industrialist Henry Ford, could well be the motto for IG professionals who are intent on ensuring that their organizations' information assets are protected, managed properly, and leveraged to help them meet their strategic goals. This idea of the value of sustained collaboration is reinforced in every article inside this issue.

In the cover article, John Phillips, CRM, CDIA, FAI, addresses protection with solutions for stemming the tide of insider data leaks. Brought into the spotlight by the exposure of millions of classified files in the WikiLeaks and NSA file theft cases, insider threats represent a significant shift in focus away from external threats for IT professionals, Phillips writes. He says that because the high volume of information overwhelms the limited technology available to combat this threat, an effective IG program that focuses on policies, procedures, and people is the best solution.

The foundation for a strong IG program--The Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles'* (Principles) --can also be leveraged by organizations involved in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures to assess and improve their resulting IG programs. In the Principles Series article, Julie Gable, CRM, FAI, provides two case studies that show how it also requires a mixture of IG expertise from key players in several business units.

Two other articles focus on how collaboration can help ensure information security and privacy. In our new, occasional "Point of View" series article, Marc Kosciejew, Ph.D., writes that a charter of personal data rights is necessary to return the control of personal data--which is frequently collected and used without...