Business continuityGuidelines for securing business records in hurricane season

Recall, a data protection specialist, the other day issued records information management (RIM) best practices guidelines. Recall says that as hurricane season begins, the company developed these guidelines to assist businesses along the Atlantic coastline to assess their business continuity in preparation for the hurricane season. Recall has experience in managing business records in more than twenty countries.

The guidelines help businesses examine their RIM program and how this program works in conjunction with a company’s business continuity execution. Recall’s strategies include specific guidelines to mitigate document loss and damage in hurricane season, including:

• Methods to create and implement a records information management plan, detailing the past and current lifecycle status of documents.
• Techniques to perform full risk assessments of physical security of critical documents.
• Strategies to collect and store critical documents and computer backup tapes in a secure, hurricane-proof, off-site location.

“Hurricanes offer little time for organizations to secure documents, making it critical to address business continuity concerns ahead of time. The time to develop a RIM plan is now,” said Barry Medintz, global vice president and general counsel at Recall. “Without a strategy in place, organizations increase their business risk in the event of a devastating hurricane.”

Additionally, lost or damaged documents can place organizations outside of strict compliance regulations, such as HIPAA, HITECH, and Sarbanes-Oxley, which require the retention of volumes of sensitive records.

“Communicating a clear and uniform RIM plan before hurricane season is key,” said Mark Emery, global director of record information management consulting services at Recall. “Creating an effective strategy requires coordination across all departments and a thorough audit of all documents. While not a simple task, this preparation will put organizations in position to account for documents that are most critical to business continuity.”