Why right now is the best time to be in records management since the invention of writing.

This is something that I strongly believe.

A lot of people don't.

They've been beaten up by their organisations for a long time and they've watched a once prestigious profession lose its standing.

Why did this happen?

Information TECHNOLOGY.

25 years ago, we really started to make traction on electronic information.

All of a sudden you could get your document to a team of people in Bangalore faster than you could walk it into the next office.

What we've seen over the last 30 years (and possibly longer) is the trajectory that comes from making communication faster and cheaper by putting the technological capability in everyone's hands.

The reason I think now is the greatest time ever to be in records management, is because I think we're running into the limits of what is achievable by just giving people capability.

I think we're into the time when the quality of information will really matter.

And that's what we're here for.

Take email as our least favourite example.

For a long time, there were massive gains to be made.

Want to cut 5 days out of a process that moves between two physical locations? EMAIL.

Want to remove all the overhead associated with people type-writing printing or hand-writing things and walking them to the next in-tray? EMAIL.

Now it's different.

Want to make sure your people are all overloaded all of the time? EMAIL.

Want to make sure you don't understand the status of any of your work? EMAIL.

Want to make sure that large portions of your organisation can routinely avoid any kind of responsibility? EMAIL.

What is going to matter from now until we figure out AI, is the quality of information.

And this is our job.

I think that the easy gains from more tech are now almost all off the table.

Now it's not the technology that matters.

It's the information.

We will have to change our practices to realise this.

A lot of Records practice still has an underlying assumption of old economics.

Some people won't make the change.

For those who do I think this is the most exciting time in history to be in Records Management.