Executive Briefing Roadshow: Information Governance for Employee Communications

The IGI is taking to the road with an Executive Briefing series hosted by our newest Supporter, Actiance. The series will focus on the various communication channels used by employees. It is no longer a world where email is the primary tool of choice. Actiance can attest to it as they hear it quite often. What are some of the stories they are hearing?

• A major Financial Services firm is now allowing broker-dealers to communicate with prospects via LinkedIn—but they are prohibited to use InMail.
• A medical device manufacturer now uses Skype for Business exclusively for internal communications in order to improve productivity.
• An energy company uses SharePoint as a repository for communications related to energy trades—and must address specific FERC supervisory guidelines.
• A regional bank allows federated communications with partners via IBM Sametime – but must restrict access to authorized individuals

What is common across all of these examples is that each new communication channel that is deployed touches a workflow or business process that can contain sensitive or high value content. The 2nd common denominator is that each example potentially collides with an existing regulation or internal business records class that entails a specific set of requirements for policy enforcement, storage, and accessibility for potential inquiry down the road. And for each, the specific regulatory guideline is consistent—that the content itself is deterministic, not the channel or tool that carries that communication. So, the rules that govern the use of email apply equally to unified communications, instant messaging, public social media, and voice. FINRA 3110 applies across the board. PHI is PHI where ever it may reside. 3, 5, or 7-year retention polices are driven by business value and potential risk, and not different if the communication happens to be restricted to 140 characters.

The implications of this massive shift don’t stop with regulations and governance. In fact, its impact has just begun to be felt in civil litigation, where the past 18 months have seen a significant increase in the court cases where the headline centered on the use (or mis-use) of non-email. The failure to preserve text messages. Or a Facebook post from a nurse of a patient in the operating room. Or a stockbroker who was sued for promoting a stock that her family had a controlling interest in. And, given new FRCP rules implemented in December that elevate the notion of taking “reasonable” steps to preserve ESI in the face of litigation, this frequency is only bound to increase.

So, how can organizations regain control over the ways that their employees are communicating? How can they address the uniqueness of Twitter, Skype for Business, Chatter, LinkedIn, and Jabber in their collection and preservation processes for eDiscovery? How can they extend the existing information governance discipline that applies to files, documents and emails to Tweets, Likes, and Shares?

To help tackle this topic, IGI executive team members Jason R. Baron and Barclay T. Blair will join Actiance at the upcoming Executive Briefing series. View the list of cities and dates below and register to join us.

• April 5, 2016  in Dallas, TX
• April 14, 2016 in Boston, MA
• April 19, 2016 in Chicago, IL
• May 17, 2016 in Minneapolis, MN
• May 31, 2016 in Charlotte, NC
• June 29, 2016 in Atlanta, GA