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***The views expressed in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer***

I recently had some thoughts as to why we "do" Records Management. I have been a practising Records Manager for some time now and I thought it would be useful to "go back to my roots" to validate my thoughts as to why we do Records Management and what key matters/steps should we consider. I should be grateful for your feedback on my two lists below - one being why we do Records Management and the other being what we gain/lessons learned from our programmes:- Why do we have Records Manement Programmes ?

1/ Improve efficiency (reduce incidents of "lost" records for example)

2/ Reduce costs - reduce storage and service costs both internal and external

3/ Minimise litigation risks and respond to regulatory/legal enquiries in a timely manner

4/ Because you have to! (some industry regulators require you to have an RM programme - pharma for example)

5/ To improve upon existing practices/consolidate to a formal programme

6/ Bring consistency to the organisation

7/ To enable you to measure your performance

8/ To enable you to reduce office space

9/ Social (moral and ethical) responsibility and preserve the Corporate Memory

10/ To control the growth and creation of Records

What are the top 10 lessons learned from our programmes?

1/ Senior mgmt sponsorship essential

2/ The more effort put in the greater the rewards

3/ Genuine costs savings can be made

4/ Good RM will enable more efficient operational processing

5/ It can limit your liability in terms of over retention of Records working against you

6/ Good awareness programmes/education essential - they help people to "get it"

7/ Must be enterprise wide for maximum savings/efficiency

8/ Must consider global and local requirements - one size will not fit all

9/ Regular interaction required to maintain focus (records management champion network)

10/ Conformance testing essential

There appears to be some overlap, however, I think these instances are justified. I should be grateful for your feedback and, of course, suggestions for further "enhancing" the above!