Records Management Policy Could Have Spared White House Embarrassing Probe According to Data Empowerment Group

Business Wire, March 13, 2008

RIM Innovator and Data Empowerment Group CEO: White House Dilemma Justifies "Preventative" Compliance with New Federal Guidelines

HENDERSON, Nev. -- The President and the White House could have been spared a Federal Judge's order allowing a watchdog group to sift through archived emails if they had an up-to-date records management policy in place, according to industry leader Tom Utiger, the author of "Records & Information Management Risk Assessment."

"A Federally compliant records management policy," Utiger explained, "would have eliminated the justification used by District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to grant this watchdog group access to White House Emails."

Utiger, a widely-published Records & Information Management (RIM) expert and founder /CEO of Data Empowerment Group, holds several seminal pending patents in this fast-emerging field. He writes journal articles for banking, legal and technology trade publications, and conducts frequent C-level seminars on the importance - and the process - of RIM compliance in today's litigious society.

In an unprecedented ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly allowed Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to review email-retention information from the White House Office of Administration, which is charged with preserving e-mails. Without an effective RIM policy in place, the White House was subject to this court-ordered independent audit.

"While only an official embarrassment to the White House," Utiger said, "this kind of ruling could well be a catastrophic nightmare for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company - instead of a citizens' watchdog group, a judge could unleash dissident shareholders or the plaintiff in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit, as happened recently to a major New York City bank."

Corporations' email retention policies are guided by the new Federal Evidentiary Rules for Discovery (http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/EDiscovery_w_Notes.pdf). The only safe corporate RIM solution is a comprehensive, compliance-oriented records management policy, one that covers not only traditional paper records, but also includes computer files, emails - even voice mail. Penalties for non-compliance can be devastating, financially and operationally.

"Along with this compliance-oriented policy," Utiger said, "companies need the technology in place to manage those records; and, when a record - under their policy - has outlived its usefulness, to delete and destroy those records in all media.

"This aspect of records management is particularly challenging," Utiger said. "Like emails, personal voice mail messages - often thought to exist only on handheld devices - also "live on" in computer databases. They have no more privacy than other records. They are discoverable - and need to be governed by a comprehensive RIM policy."

About Data Empowerment Group

Data Empowerment Group (http://www.dataempowerment.com) - is a records and data management innovator and global provider of integrated enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. DEG specializes in filling functionality gaps in existing records management systems, as well as in solving records and data management challenges through its innovative content integration software and workshops. The Company's programs work in collaboration with existing ECM platforms, enabling a fully integrated records and data management protocol that unifies client employee processes, increasing clients' competitive edge by reducing operating costs and liability, and improving efficiency.

CEO Tom Utiger holds several pending patents, and is the author of "Records & Information Management Risk Assessment" and a host of journal articles. He frequently speaks at conferences and seminars on Records & Information Management (RIM).

For more information, or to interview DEG's CEO and Founder, Tom Utiger, contact Ned Barnett - 702-696-1200 or ned@barnettmarcom.com.