Does your record retention program produce real results or is it a pseudo program? A “real” record retention program has a measurable impact: It reduces risks, ensures compliance, drives down the cost of e-discovery and lowers data storage costs. Unfortunately, too many of the record retention programs I see are what I term “pseudo” programs. Pseudo record retention programs look like they should be effective, but don't produce any of these results and sometimes even actually increase risks and costs.

What makes a record retention program a pseudo program? A pseudo program is often focused on the wrong areas, is too narrow in scope, or does not address “real” world requirements or behaviors. Here are four common signs of pseudo record retention programs:

Exclusively Addresses “Official” Records, Ignoring Documents - Pseudo record retention programs only address “official” business records and they ignore the larger world of non-record documents. Documents are any type of business communication, including e-mails, files, paper, etc. A special, subset of business documents are records, or documents that support an organization's activities or decisions. Driven by regulatory or business requirements, records need to be saved for some period of time. While it varies from company to company, anywhere from 5 percent to 40 percent of an organization's documents are records.