Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub Record retention and information governance have grown exponentially more complex as the number of laws have proliferated and the amount of data housed has exploded. This has vastly complicated the question of what data to hold onto and for how long. Mark Diamond, CEO of Contoural, points out that sometimes there are even competing and conflicting compliance regimes. For the most part, the rules specify a minimum number of years that information must be retained. However, organizations can typically retain records longer if there is a compelling and documented business need. Still, the temptation to just hold onto the data must be resisted. In this podcast he outlines the importance of getting a good handle on what data the organization has, categorizing it appropriately, determining how long it will be retained, and how it will be destroyed. Typically, this is an exercise involving multiple disciplines, including compliance, legal, IT, security, privacy and the business unit. A committ