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Forrester Research/ARMA International Survey
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
A well-crafted records management (EM) 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...