Where records management legislation has been most effective, where it has been least effective, and what it means for us.

I'd argue that records management legislation has been most effective at getting organisations to buy records management systems.

I'd argue that it's been least effective at promoting practices that make the implementation of the systems valuable to the organisation.

If regulators turned up to regulate, that wouldn't be a problem.

They don't, so when it comes to getting our organisations to do anything, we are largely on our own.

It's both a problem and an opportunity.

The problem is that the regulators ideas about value, are almost never the organisations ideas about value - so in the presence of a regulator who won't regulate, organisations just struggle to find reasons why they should implement the standards they set.

The opportunity is that we've been amazingly capable systems and teams of people in - because of the regulation.

Organisations are crying out for people who can help them organise themselves and their information in ways that make results more easily achievable.

They're not crying out for more fine grained classification of records for disposition, they're not crying out for classification or disposition at all.

So we've got amazingly capable systems.

Teams of people who love records and are motivated to help.

And regulators that won't turn up and do any regulation.

It sounds like what we do with the people and they system is largely up to us.