What will the records and information management industry look like for 2023 and beyond?
To answer this, we engaged with a research firm to survey over 500 records and information management (RIM) professionals about their challenges and planned investments for 2023. The results were filled with valuable insights into how the industry is changing.
It’s essential to note that every organization has its unique requirements, and what works for one may not be suitable for another. However, understanding industry benchmarks and focuses can ensure that you’re prioritizing your resources properly. In this article, we’ll share some of the most compelling findings from our survey, shedding light on the top three challenges RIM professionals are facing in 2023.
1. Digitization Remains a Top Priority… and a Challenge
As more and more organizations transform their workflows into a digital-first way of operating, digitizing paper records remains a top challenge. Scanning and digitization was the top investment for respondents over the last 12 months, and they expect that investment to increase even more over the next year.
At the same time, 41% of respondents reported that they are running into issues with their digitization efforts. This is likely due to either a lack of clarity around what to scan, bloated scanning processes, or a combination of both.
One way that organizations can overcome challenges in this area is to approach the process in an incremental fashion. Instead of trying to scan every paper record at once, take a step back and understand what records are frequently accessed by your employees and prioritize digitizing those.
This will help streamline operations and create a more secure environment for protecting sensitive data, which brings us to our next concern.
Panel Discussion: Navigating the Top Challenges in Records and Information Management
2. Increasing Digitization Creates Security Concerns
The second most frequently reported challenge was information security concerns. Since our last survey, security has grown significantly in importance compared to other RIM challenges.
As the number of cyberattacks and subsequent fines increase, RIM professionals are trying to enable access to digital documents while ensuring that those same records don’t fall into the wrong hands. More than four in ten (43%) RIM professionals reported that they intend to increase investment in digital document repository/management over the next 12 months to allow for more secure access.
When choosing a digital document management system, RIM professionals should first identify the features that are necessary for their organization, such as secure data storage.
3. Budgets are Tight and Staff is Limited
Like every other department in 2023, information management professionals are likely to face strong pressure from leadership to control costs when making RIM-related decisions and investments.
Nearly two in five (38%) respondents reported budget restrictions as their top challenge slowing progress to reaching their RIM goals. Additionally, increasingly tight budgets and staffing resources might make it especially difficult to handle the two previously mentioned concerns effectively.
This requires records and information management professionals to lean on emerging technologies such as auto-classification, AI, and other machine learning technologies to help reach their goals without straining their budget.
However, widespread adoption is likely still years away as only 10% of respondents reported that they’re increasing investment in these sorts of technologies. Furthermore, few reported that these sorts of technologies were anything but “nice to have”.
Conclusion
Based on the survey results, it’s clear that the industry is changing rapidly, and organizations must adapt to keep up.
Many RIM professionals have identified digitization, security, and tight budgets to be their greatest challenges, making smart investments in technology all the more important.
Interested in seeing more insights? Review the 2023 State of the Records and Information Management (RIM) Industry Report for an in-depth look at information management trends and insight into where the industry is headed.
