ARMA International 2022 banner.
Finally! After several years of virtual format, ARMA International hosted their annual records management conference, InfoCon, in-person this year. It was incredible to attend, present and, most importantly, connect with everyone face to face.
Beyond seeing old and new friends, it was fun to see what the buzz was about. We asked attendees: “What topics are you most excited to learn about?” and “What’s top of mind for you and your team right now?”
And as we have for years past (see: 2020, 2019, 2018), we’ve gathered these answers to compile a list of hot topics from InfoCon 2022:
1. Data Privacy and Security
Whether back at the office, using a hybrid approach, or fully working remotely, there is certainly an updated landscape for information workers.
With this new territory, having proper data privacy and security in place is more important than ever. Attendees were excited for education around how to ensure their organizational data is safe.
Related: we’ve written articles on the importance of proper data privacy, and the measures our cloud solution has in place to ensure information is fully secure.
2. Finding and Accessing Content
How many times has the should-be simple task of accessing a document turned into a long expedition through libraries and files, only to find that permissions need to be given to access this content?
For this reason, eDiscovery was yet again a hot topic at the conference this year. Tips to optimize search, as well as how to set security-trimming (proper permissions) in place were amongst the top queries.
Related: check out our customer success stories about how an Electric Co-op cut their FOIA discovery process down from weeks to minutes, or how a Canadian bank put proper permissions in place for their content.
3. Managing Physical Records
Despite digitization efforts, paper is not quite out of the picture yet. As such, proper processes for the management of physical records is critical to keep organizations organized, efficient and compliant. This is a relevant conversation for many of the attendees.
Related: we’ve covered ways to modernize your physical records management, and talked about managing physical in M365 (is it possible?).
4. Antiquated Systems & Processes
Unfortunately, we heard from attendees that many of their systems either did not cover their needs, were becoming full volume, or were soon expiring. There was curiosity of other options for next steps.
Updating RM processes was also a common discussion. Our teammate, Justin, even delivered a session at the conference about how to apply traditional information management tactics to modern strategies.
Related: our customer success story about how a solutions-orientated organization overcame full volume storage and updated their processes.
5. M365 Gaps
Attendees and session speakers alike talked challenges they have encountered with Microsoft 365 for information governance. Certain gaps within M365 were discussed, some of which have been covered in our comparison chart.
Related: Does M365 cover your organization’s end-to-end RM needs? Spoiler alert: It depends. We’ve created a series around this topic to help you answer this question.
6. Advocating for RM & Getting Buy-In
While many of the attendees at this event know how critical it is to have updated processes and tools for compliant records management, the challenge can be attaining buy-in from IT and executives. Getting a seat at the table was another common discussion
Related: we’ve given a session on how to align other departments and get executive buy-in. We also have a customer success story coming out soon that discusses how a records manager advocated and gained understanding for the value of RM across the organization- stay tuned!.
7. Modernizing Systems, Migrating to the Cloud
While using a cloud solution, such as Collabspace, addresses many of these challenges by providing a fully secure platform to store content, allowing unified search and ensuring end-to-end, compliant RM, the move to the cloud may seem intimidating. Often attendees mentioned hesitation from their teams to make this transition.
Related: The Cloud doesn’t have to be scary! We’ve written an article with tips on migrating to the Cloud, you can also contact us for a Proof on Concept showing that it doesn’t have to be an “all-in” implementation.
What do you think of our list this year? Would you have any additional subjects that you'd add? Leave a comment below and let us know! And if you have any questions, or would like to chat more about anything listed, then be sure to Contact Us:
