RM tech deployment still a rough road: the results of the third annual Forrester Research/ARMA International technology market trends survey highlight the complexity of deploying technology, grappling with high costs, managing e-discovery expectations, and obtaining a seat at the table.

• Author: Hill, Brian
• Position: Forrester Research/ARMA International Survey - Records management

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A well-crafted records management (RM) program with supporting applications is critical to keeping an organization out of legal hot water. However, the road to successful implementation is rarely easy. In its third annual collaborative effort with ARMA International, Forrester's recent survey of more than 300 technology and strategy decision makers responsible for records management shows that while enterprises report greater satisfaction with their records management applications than in our prior surveys, many continue to grapple with complexity, cost, low user adoption, and integration shortcomings.

Factors Driving RM Technology Adoption

Among important findings, 53% of records management stakeholders indicated that they expect to augment or deploy new records management products in 2012. While this represents a slight dip from last year's survey, three factors stand out in continuing to drive strong adoption:

1. The need to address regulatory requirements and ease e-discovery pain

   Successful records management programs support achieving regulatory requirements, information risk management goals, and broader information governance objectives. In Forrester's Q2 2011 "Forrsights Security Survey," 83% of enterprises reported regulatory compliance to be an "important" or "very important" initiative over the next 12 months. While records management has historic roots in facilitating compliance, organizations are increasingly seeking to ease complex and costly e-discovery responses with defensible disposition approaches enabled by solid records management programs.

2. The need to tackle a broader set of content and application types Over the last several years, vendors and organizations have embarked on a journey to expand the scope of records management beyond physical records to a broader set of electronic assets. While applying records management controls on physical assets remains a critical use case, the transition to incorporating these controls over a wider array of content types and applications has been slow and bumpy. In 2012, however, about one-third of records management decision makers plan to integrate content management, e-mail, file shares, and collaboration systems with currently deployed records management applications.

3. The need to factor in the rapid rise of SharePoint

   Enterprise adoption of SharePoint for content and collaboration is pervasive. In SharePoint 2010, Microsoft introduced significant records management advances and generated keen market interest. While the current offering includes improvements, it won't address all enterprise records management requirements. Partners can help address some functional gaps, but buyers need to do their homework, especially since few detailed public references for SharePoint 2010 records management use cases exist.

   Amid this strong adoption, survey results illustrate that information risk professionals are increasingly satisfied with their records management applications. Up from only 49% in 2009, 58% of 2011 survey respondents indicated satisfaction with their current records management solutions (see Figure 1).

   RM Program Challenges

   While this small shift is encouraging, records managers also describe considerable challenges with their programs. Instead of technology application-specific woes, these frustrations focus primarily on concerns regarding the:

   1) Complexity and duration of deployments

   2) High cost

   3) E-discovery capabilities

   4) Strategic standing within the organization

   Complex, Lengthy Deployments

   Similar to last year's survey, nearly two-thirds of records management stakeholders indicated that complex and lengthy deployments are a continual source of frustration.

   One of the main factors contributing to this concern is that aligning RM with information technology...