Océ Business Services Helps Organizations Tap Records Management Best Practices for Solid Business Benefits

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a recent document management industry survey sponsored by Océ Business Services, an overwhelming majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their organization’s records program is providing a range of important business benefits. These benefits include enabling business records to be retained for the appropriate period of time (97 percent) and facilitating the duty to preserve information (96 percent).

“all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future”

To gain the broadest range of these and other advantages, however, enterprises need to incorporate critical best practices into their records management program. An effective program spans the creation, management, storage, delivery and timely disposal of records. Océ highlights the following key elements for developing and maintaining a comprehensive and secure records management program.

Create a thorough filing plan

Without a well-conceived filing plan, including naming conventions and standards, documents are often lost or misfiled. This can mean executives will spend valuable time searching when they need to find important information quickly. One example is when records employees file documents without metadata (information about an item’s content, such as its date). In this case, searching for a client proposal for which the exact date is unknown will not be fast or efficient without the ability to key in other known metadata such as the client name and proposal topic. A filing plan incorporating metadata and other important elements is crucial to an effective records program.

Begin tracking records early

Records management is a discipline that starts when a record – paper or electronic – is actually created. By waiting until a record is no longer active to begin tracking its movement and access, companies are missing an opportunity to make the record accessible, authentic and reliable. These characteristics of a record are required by the courts and government auditors. Companies not conforming to these guidelines have a far greater risk of incurring penalties and sanctions if they become involved in litigation and have to gather responsive materials. Companies that take the time to manage records correctly throughout their lifecycle are better prepared to avoid these pitfalls.

Destroy obsolete copies

Keeping copies of records after the published retention period has been met can be harmful to a company for several reasons. One is that if the company claims to have destroyed a record, and a copy of that record is found during discovery, the court could consider that copy to be relevant to the case. This situation can also hurt the company’s credibility. Since the company falsely claimed the document was destroyed, but it wasn’t, opposing counsel might suggest investigating other documents that the company claims it destroyed. Keeping obsolete copies can also be harmful by leading to bad decisions, such as acting on an old version of a contract that doesn’t contain subsequent amendments and revisions. Disposing of records in accordance with an established retention schedule is a sound practice both from a business and legal perspective.

Be aware of IRS rules

Many organizations often refer to the “IRS rules,” but are not aware that IRS rules vary from three years to indefinitely, depending upon whether an organization owes additional taxes. (If the organization owes but is not found fraudulent, the three-year standard applies. If it is found fraudulent, three years can become indefinitely). The seven-year recommendation is primarily for a securities loss or a bad debt reduction. Records retention periods vary from state to state, at the federal level, and for global companies. Additionally, contractual obligations between companies increasingly include requirements for retaining records pertaining to the contract’s execution. Becoming more familiar with these and other requirements can significantly improve compliance and lower risk.

About Océ

Océ is one of the leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the Fortune Global 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, Océ is active in over 100 countries and employs more than 20,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in financial 2010 amounted to approximately €2.7 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.oce.com.

Océ Business Services provides high quality managed services and technology to manage, monitor and optimize document intensive processes so companies can improve operating efficiency and performance. Océ Business Services solutions span the document lifecycle and include records management, imaging, managed print services, mail and eDiscovery. Proprietary methodologies apply Six Sigma®. North American headquarters are in New York City and employment is about 5,000. Learn more at www.obs-innovation.com or follow us on Twitter.

Océ and Canon: Stronger together

In 2010 Océ joined the Canon Group of companies with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to create the global leader in the printing industry. Canon develops, manufactures and markets a growing line-up of copying machines, printers, cameras, optical and other products that meet a diverse range of customer needs. The Canon Group comprises over 197,000 employees worldwide. Global net sales in 2010 were more than USD 45 billion. For more information, visit www.canon.com.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2010†, with global revenues of more than US $45 billion and is listed as number six in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies 2010 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.

†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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