Few companies have addressed this issue head-on. After all, "records systems" smacks of too much dreary library science to arouse immediate interest. But CIOs are finding two issues that are making them pay attention. First and foremost are lawsuits. The files on servers and backup tapes are a common source of legal angst and expense when they are subpoenaed by plaintiffs’ attorneys. If such files aren’t organized, discovery costs can reach millions of dollars. Second, companies are creating digital documents that need to be saved for many years. Current systems and file formats may not be around then, creating the need for long-term digital file storage. To knock off both concerns at once, forward-looking CIOs are installing electronic records management systems.

Human versions of such systems have been used for years at most companies to track paper documents. Corporate records managers?professional experts in organizing and preserving company documents?help determine what files to keep, for how long, based on both legal requirements and any business need for them. By this plan, usually called a retention schedule, documents get filed according to predetermined categories

Increasingly, CIOs?working with records managers as well as their corporate legal departments?are applying those processes to digital documents, most often as part of a document management or knowledge management system. Using electronic record-keeping software?a type of middleware?CIOs can turn databases of documents into legally defensible records management systems.

See You in Court

Most CIOs get their first exposure to electronic records management at the wrong end of a lawsuit. That’s when Robert Rickert, CIO of KeyCorp, a multistate bank based in Cleveland, usually hears about it. "Electronic records issues come up probably monthly," says Rickert. KeyCorp holds records on $87 billion in assets from hundreds of thousands of customers, which are both consumers and businesses.

KeyCorp keeps hundreds of thousands of documents on hand to satisfy government regulations that govern those assets. Most records are on paper, stored away in boxes. But the company also has lots of unofficial documents, including correspondence, that it keeps on various LANs that are managed by local offices and departments. Rickert knows that all of that information can be subpoenaed by plaintiffs suing the bank. He doesn’t say how much retrieving the data costs his company, but legal experts note the costs can add up. Every backup tape that a plaintiff suspects contains incriminating data costs about $1,000 to process, says John Jessen, president and CEO of Seattle-based Electronic Evidence Discovery, which helps companies comply with legal discovery orders.