Typically a significant amount of effort will be placed focusing on M-A-D’s impact on people and physical assets. CEOs will focus on telling shareholders and the markets about how well this will position the company for success. Legal focuses on writing up an agreement. The real estate group focuses on finding, revamping or closing office space. HR sifts through thousands of decisions regarding who will stay or go. Marketing and sales draw up plans to adjust branding, marketing and image.
Sadly, despite this flurry of activity, organizations often expend little or no effort on treating information and records as an asset…until Day 1…when suddenly people realize they don’t have the information and records to operate efficiently and effectively.
As seasoned RIM professionals know, a M-A-D event has a substantial impact on the records management program. Those impacts include:
· Heavy burden on RM staff throughout the company
· Forces adjustments to
o Policies and Procedures
o Retention Schedules
o File Plans
o Taxonomy / Classification Schemes
o Metadata / Thesaurus
o Permissions / Security Models / Workflows
o Electronic Records Management Systems
o Physical Records Storage Space
· Can add new level of complexity for legal/tax holds
· Requires coordination of RM vendors
· Highlights need for employee training
· May require longer-term staffing level adjustments
So what can you do to survive a M-A-D event? Here are a couple of ideas:
1. Spend 10 minutes and talk to senior management about the impact on Records Management.
2. Enlist the help of your boss to be on the lookout for M-A-D events so you can maximize the time you have to plan and prepare.
3. Think about connecting with others who have recently undergone a M-A-D event and learn what went well and what pitfalls to watch out for.
Rich Russo has coached several clients through mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Learn more by contacting Rich at rrusso@accesssciences.com.
