ICL and stakeholders discuss migration to electronic record keeping
Correspondent | Thursday October 18, 2018 15:48
Government departments, parastatal organisations, Insurance companies, mining and banks attended ICL Botswana hosted information and governance seminar on records management for the Botswana market designed to enlighten record managers on the discipline and trend of the trade regionally and locally as well as to showcase ICL solution for the migration to electronic records.
Dr Segomotso Keakopa, archive and records management expert from the University of Botswana’s department of library and information studies said presenting authentic electronic was a challenge due to identity theft and privacy concerns.
Dr Keakopa who in 2015 was tasked to lead a strategic plan for the SADC regional approach lamented the regional trend of working in isolation. She said there was need to engage more to ensure solutions are implemented by the market.
Presenting on global electronic documents and record management systems practices and trends on information governance Paul Mullon of South African based COR Concepts revealed two concepts which he said could be helpful. For Defensible disposition or destroying obsolete records with confidence to work, he said there was need to get the right stakeholders such as legal, audit, business, IT and records management together to make sound and solid rules. He said this was necessary because people felt they needed to keep records forever because they thought they might be needed some day.
The second concept is Redundant Obsolete and Trevial (ROT), which Mullon said refers to records that were no longer needed and of no value. “You have to ask yourself why you are keeping this. If a thing is no longer of value, why are we spending effort, time and money to keep it? Get rid of the ROT,” he said.
On cloud security he said while there was no doubt that information stored on cloud technology was at risk it was equally risky to store paper at the office. He further said cloud was more secure because Google and Microsoft spent billions of Dollars on cyber security.
Hosam Al-Majdoob, territory account manager, Middle East and Africa for Microfocus said security was a major part of their solution. Microfocus is the developer of the content management application offered by ICL.
He further stated that having technology does not mean that you have to get rid of your traditional way of doing things but to adapt the technology and moving into the future. Al-Majdoob further said their solutions are flexible tailor made to suit the customers of different regions.
Katlego Letebele a consultant and software developer said while every project has its own unique issues interventions such as strategy, integrating, gap analysis and process training as well as change management among others were important to make the transition easier.