Reduce Litigation Costs With Reliable Record Retention Policies

Having a sound record retention policy benefits any company largely due to the fact that there is an increasing amount of regulatory compliance that require saving particular types of documents. Also, carelessly deleting files and failure to adhere to company document destruction policies does not only constitute a possible violation in regulatory requirements but will also increase legal risks. Therefore, employing a reliable record retention management is a big factor in decreasing Litigation risks and cost.


So how much could bad corporate record retention cost a company? DuPont, from a case study, spent almost $12M reviewing documents in a Discovery, only to find that according to existing published policy, those documents should have been destroyed in the routine course of business. The company had waisted valuable amount of resources that could have been spent in further business expansion.


As easy as it may sound but practicing good records management is troubling for companies. It is due to the fact that today's businesses deal with electronic data in doing day to day operations. Unlike its predecessor the paper document, electronic information (emails, word documents, spreadsheet, etc.) is too complex that it has certain characteristics that makes it hard to manage and has caused a lot of headaches to IT departments. Electronic information can become too scattered and hard to control even with a central repository which increases a company's exposure to legal risks.


Debates have surfaced as to how should document management be implemented. Though many would agree that what businesses should focus on is applying what technology has to offer in corporate record retention and document destruction policies. Investments in electronic discovery software, as learned by other companies the hard way, could save a lot of money in legal costs and could save the company itself.