http://rhizomedigital.com.au/why-would-small-business-need-a-records-management-consultant/
Most small businesses would not consider hiring a records management consultant.
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NOTE: As you have probably guessed already, I am posting my blog posts from my website to Archives Live. I cannot see an effective way to share them so that people will read them. I hope this practice is OK.
The following blog post was written earlier today and designed to be read by people who run small businesses. I was inspired by some posts on a Facebook group about how employers are hiring people and calling them contractors when they are clearly not, as well as some recent discussions with small business owners. As always, I appreciate the feedback and conversation in response.
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Most charge a lot of money and there is enough information out there already about what records to create and keep. The ATO has very good information on its website about recordkeeping, including the very useful record keeping evaluation tool for small business.
However, remember, the ATO is concerned with financial records only – for tax purposes. The tools do not mention how long the records need to be kept for.
What about other records that might also be useful to create and keep?
I have written a list of why records management is good. However, the terms and concepts do not mean much until they are put in practice.
So what I thought I might do is provide some brief examples. Most are situations I have had some experience or contact with, rather than made up examples.
1. A very successful bookshop hires approximately multiple staff to work a 7 day a week roster. The bookshop has a thriving Internet sales arm with two full-time staff answering email and sourcing books for customers. Everyday they spend time on the phone or on email asking book distributors the price and availability of books. The primary information system is Outlook and each employee has their own email address.
Firstly, there is an opportunity to look at how information is created and captured from the phone calls. Imagine if someone asked for the same book in the same day, or even the same week? What if the employees captured the information somewhere so that other employees can access it rather than just emailing the customer about it? Creating a knowledge database would save money in the short & long term.
Also, email and information sharing between staff members on the status of the orders could be improved with customer relations software or CRM. Or even more simply, by using the tools that Outlook has such as tasks to share information. Saves money and keeps things moving smoothly so customers have little to be grumbly about.
Individualised names for email is ineffective. It is better to using the role or position titles. When someone leaves a business their email gets shut down. Why not let the email be the role name instead and then it simply continues on?
2. A successful cake decorating business uses paper order forms to document customer orders. They have a number of staff who write in shorthand on the order forms.
There is an opportunity here to think about purchasing a CRM (Client Relationships Management) piece of software. This kind of software helps to standardise information entry so that everyone can understand what is being ordered.
A CRM also helps to be able to view ordering trends over the long term. This kind of information can help to anticipate trends and maximise the potential of promotions. Using the data generated by your own business to help build your business means making more money.
Also, keeping data in a database means that repeat customers can be contacted at the times of the year they have ordered a cake in the past – such as birthdays and so on. Contacting a customer before they order lets them know that you are looking out for them. Yes, some customers might not care or like it, but most will. Good customer relationships means more good promotion and more money!
3. A business coaching consultant has built up a long clientele list over the years. Most of the information about clients is in paper format, but some is in electronic documents. The consultant has kept all the client files they have ever created.
Information held about people by business must generally abide by the Privacy Act. There are exceptions, but we will assume for this example this the business coach needs to abide by Privacy legislation. It is not useful then to have client records in both hard copy and electronic format as information must be kept complete and current. It would be good to look at what information is being created and why and see how it can be captured in a way that ensures it’s reliability and completeness, but also not cause storage issues. Storage problems means poor access and more money spent.
It is also useful to think about multiple redundancies for important information being held in digital formats. Keeping a backup is not enough. A business needs to consider what format the back up is in, where the backed up information is being held and how to access the information when required. Losing vital records through disaster can completely shut down a business and makes it very difficult to get back up again.
How long do client records in this circumstance need to be held for before they are destroyed? What information might be kept of a client record and what else might be destroyed? What legislation or regulation might impact on how these decisions can be made? Keeping information for longer than legally required costs money and increases risk. If the records are in electronic format and on back up tapes, how might they be effectively destroyed? If there was a legal situation, then the records might be accessible.
4. A talented and successful theatre performer has friends take photos and video of her events for posterity, as well as for future promotional purposes. She keeps the images and video on her computer hard drive.
Unless the photographer is an employee, they own the rights to the photos they have taken. There really needs to be a formal agreement between the performer and the photographer to determine who owns the photos and in what capacity they can be used. Remember copyright is now for 75 years after the death of the author/photographer. Agreements need to be held for a long long time.
The situation is similar with the film maker, but also more complex. The performer may have obtained rights to perform a particular piece of theatre, but do they have the rights to promote a filmed version? Do they have the right to capture the sound recording in a film, even if they were the performers? Again, copyright law comes into effect here and it become very expensive if a business is sued.
Finally, the performer really needs to back up the image and video files elsewhere and preferably off-site. Losing this kind of heritage and memory would be heartbreaking. It would also take time and money to build this kind of material back up again. Gaps in the history of the business would occur. If the performer is asked to contribute materials to a national archive, then the materials would be incomplete.
These are just a few examples. Providing advice about what records to create and keep is not just about financial and tax records. There are so many more things to consider with recordkeeping.
Yes, this blog post is a plug for my business. If you want to know more about your own situation I offer free consultations. I do not tell you what we offer, rather, I make you a cup of tea and ask about what your issues are.
Want to share a story here? Post a comment and I will answer with some things to look out for.
Comments
Great comment Natasha! I completely agree with you! I have tried and tried and tried to explain how recordkeeping facilitates and support good business practices. People hear me and often agree, but want to know how spending money on records management can save money on current practices.
I think getting on board with your ideas means having a CEO who gets it and champions recordkeeping is vital to ensure there is a culture change in an organisation. I keep trying. :)
Leisa, your list is good. However it IMHO misses an important point: good recordkeeping supports line of business processes and sometimes opens up new business opportunities. In plain English, it helps making money (that is interesting for small businesses, isn't it?).
Good business recordkeeping IMHO is not about knowing something. Aim higher: it is about supporting and facilitating core business activities! :)