What does the current financial crisis in the global markets mean for organizations when it comes to ECM? According to Open Text's Director of Collaborative Content Management, Cheryl McKinnon, it will likely add fuel to the trend toward better information governance, something that got its start in the wake of Enron.

In a press release issued by Open Text today, McKinnon points out that better information governance can help organizations maintain stakeholder trust, improve transparency and uncover new opportunities for cost reductions. Many organizations are in a better position today than a few years ago because they are continuing to build on the work they've done since Enron.

McKinnon said, "For large companies, information governance is a major challenge, given the complexity of information systems across many departments, plus a store of electronic content that grows daily. Companies in many industries have made progress over the last few years to tap into this mountain of information to improve controls. But there's still more to do in corporations and government to establish comprehensive governance strategies, particularly with today's increasingly global, distributed work environment."

The potential for new regulations in the U.S. and other countries in the wake of the Wall Street crisis is another driver of renewed information governance efforts: "An information governance strategy prepares your organization to meet new regulatory rules sooner, because processes and controls are already in place: there is full transparency into how information flows through the organization," said McKinnon.

Besides meeting regulatory and legal rules, information governance provides other benefits which can come in handy during a slower economy. McKinnon points to being able to reduce costs and improve processes in transaction-oriented systems such as accounts payable. Companies can also establish a corporate memory that captures information from worker collaboration so that best practices can be preserved for future projects. This can be critical if disruptive forces in the economy cause workers to shift jobs, leave the organization or face merger and acquisition upheavals.

The key requirement for success, according to McKinnon is to establish information governance as an enterprise-wide initiative, rather than limited to specific departments: "You may decide to address information governance requirements in stages over time, but your strategy should be based on a review of people, processes and content across the organization. Companies that take this approach often expose potential legal or regulatory risks and can act to minimize the threat."