Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | I N F O R M A T I O N G O V E R N E N C E 43 P O L I T I C S O F I N F O R M A T I O N G O V E R N A N C E in travel is important to ensure teams have much needed face-time. F R A M E W O R K If your firm is a progressive organization, you may want to look at other areas for initial IG success and momentum. You will need a strong audit and remediation effort to monitor compliance with and to fix instances of breach of policies. Since the your clients may be those which change quickly, matter lifecycle management is a critical technolo and process allowing you to stay on top client changes throughout the representation. Information governance awareness and education will be paramount to inform, train and monitor users to ensure they are in compliance with stricter controls. A progressive firm will have a variety of projects at various different levels. It's important to stay in tune with those to find opportunities to infuse good IG practices from the outset. You will need to have a meticulous process to monitor user behavior. The process needs to be flexible to account for different technologies and systems. You will find issues where users have compromised your policies. If you do not find them, you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your monitoring. How you address these variances of behavior will be a better indicator of strength of your program than the program itself. Users will stray. It is your job to identify the variance, assess and fix the damage. Newer companies often evolve. Ownership may change.New companies may be acquired. Corporate changes also change the potential for conflict with existing clients. As representations and technolo change, there may be need for increased security even with a client who has not changed. A robust matter lifecycle management program can not only provide essential functionality but also an IG success story. With robust central systems for information creation, use and sharing, having a strong education and training system is crucial. Cultivating partnerships with your training group will be advantageous for everyone. I M P L I C A T I O N S Progressive firms seemingly enjoy several advantages. The propensity for quick change and early adoption of new tech increases risk as well as the need for vigilance in developing concurrent governance strategies and tools. In order to remain progressive, these firms are in a constant stage of change. As such, change management strategies should be incorporated into any IG program. P R A C T I C A L S T E P S If following the steps outlined above, we feel allying with your firm training department is essential to your IG success. Understanding your firm's client intake and maintenance program is also a necessary component. You must find ways to handle allowance of mobile and remote technologies. For the IG professional at a progressive firm, alliances are a very practical and essential step. Leigh Isaacs is the Director, Information Governance & Records Management at Proskauer Rose LLP. Her expertise includes strategic development and implementation of enterprise records and information governance/ privacy programs, process improvements, matter lifecycle management, risk mitigation, vendor management, evaluation, design and implementation of technology solutions. She enjoys building teams and programs to meet the ever changing needs of law firms and their clients. An active member of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), Leigh has served as Vice President of the Program Planning Counsel and other volunteer roles. She is also a founding Steering Committee Member for the Law Firm Information Governance Symposium, serves on the Advisory board for the Information Governance Initiative and has served in various leadership roles for ARMA. She is the creator of an information governance course and is a published author, speaker and instructor in issues relating to information governance.

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