Many federal agencies are still struggling with National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) directive that mandates that all agencies must have plans to manage all electronic records by December 31, 2013.  What does this mean?  Inside Counsel has put some thought into that question.

...both [public and private sector organizations] are aligned in their goal to proactively manage information more effectively. Not surprisingly, both are seeking better technology approaches such as data archiving and cloud computing to help them address new and often more stringent record keeping requirements. Given the dramatic growth of worldwide data, organizations must turn to these kinds of technology solutions to automate retention policies that were once manual.

Read the rest of the article to hear more about this process, but we'd also like to highlight their recommendation to attend the E-Discovery and Government Education (EDGE Summit) to be held in Washington, D.C. on June 11.  Could be a great chance to rub shoulders with big thinkers and decision makers in the period running up to this requirement.

Related articles

• Debating the Utility of the Cloud in Records Management Solutions (agimssinc.wordpress.com)
• Record Management and You (agimssinc.wordpress.com)
• Debate: Records Management in the Cloud (agimssinc.wordpress.com)

Over at Small Biz Trends, Megan Totka reflects on the utility of what she refers to as "big data."  Totka describes big data like so:

The term “big data” covers a lot of ground. Data is collected from every action that’s performed on an Internet-connected network—sending an email or tweet, posting to Facebook or a blog, commenting or rating, updating a profile, shopping online, using a cell phone or tablet, even swiping a credit card at a physical store. Every action generates a digital footprint that’s stored somewhere in the ether.

She identifies social media, CRM & customer service data as the easiest ways to get started with this information.  These are certainly important first steps.  The best conversation might come from her concluding question:  "How can your small business take advantage of big data?"  Click through to her article and maybe we'll see some answers in the comments.