Change Starts Here

Records managers and information governance professionals from around the country flocked to Orlando last week for ARMA Live! 2017. We here at ZL Tech would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth or came to hear our CEO, Kon Leong, speak at his education session and keynote presentation.

May You Live in Times of Change

This year’s conference theme, “Agents of Change,” encapsulates where this industry is going. With increases in technology and regulation alike, our industry is on the cusp of a major shift.

In his keynote presentation, Kon began with an old Chinese greeting meant for both friends and enemies: “May you live in times of change.” Change, you see, can be either a blessing or a curse. To the unprepared, it’s a risky burden. To the prepared, it’s an adventure primed with opportunity.

With GDPR’s imminent arrival and the myriad changes occurring in the global privacy space, we most certainly live in times of change. This means that the RIM profession needs leaders more than ever before. To paraphrase ARMA CEO Jocelyn Gunter: it needs agents of change, and that means you.

The New Scope of RIM

Records and Information Management (RIM) holds all the prerequisites for becoming the focal point of GDPR compliance management. While functions such as classification of private data, access controls, audit trails, and life cycle management used to only apply to records, they must now apply to everything.

As the scope of information governance increases, so should your authority. Too long, records managers have waited for projects to come to them, frustrated by their lack of budget, authority, and respect. In our new regulatory landscape, however, no one is better equipped than RIM professionals.

If there’s one thing I learned from ARMA, it’s that change is coming, and that’s a good thing. Due to complex changes in the industry, RIM is faced with more opportunity than ever before. The question is: will you go out and grab it?

ARMA Events GDPR information governance records records management RIM

As a content and events specialist at ZL, I work to bring the glamorous allure of information governance to the world. As a native Virginian and temporary Tennessean turned Californian, I’m permanently fascinated by life on the west coast. Although I miss SEC football and four distinct seasons, I’m in love with redwood forests and bubble tea on every corner.