Executive Guide on Digital Preservation for Business

Unless they are vendors of storage or digital preservation services, profit making business do not have collection as their core mandate, and tend to be driven by market share, reputation, profit, branding and their perceived trustworthiness within their own market. This may mean that it is often harder to make the case for digital preservation in business archives, but digital materials play a crucial role in a company’s distinctiveness, competence and competitiveness.

What is Digital Preservation?

Managing the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the organization’s records to ensure efficient and accurate access,
Applying retention periods correctly, avoiding unnecessary risks.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?

Risks	Potential Consequences	Key Motivators
Existing storage systems do not protect records from unauthorised change or corruption	Data loss/corruption Disruption of business/organisation’s functions Confidence loss Damage to reputation Loss/reduction in funding/revenue Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements	Authenticity Business Continuity Compliance Reputation Revenue Security
Staff fail to comply with organizational policy and processes in relation to management of records (reliability, authenticity, usability etc.),	Important digital objects not captured in preservation system Necessary documentation/metadata not created/captured Disruption of business/organisation’s functions Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements	Authenticity Business Continuity Compliance Costs Reputation
Inability to provide evidence of compliance with regulations	Loss of reputation and stakeholder confidence Fines/sanctions	Compliance Costs Reputation
Business processes rely on file formats and storage media that are becoming obsolete	Data loss/corruption Disruption of business’s functions Increased costs	Business Continuity Costs
Inability to produce reliable and authentic records necessary to pursue or defend legal claims	Undermines ability to reach resolution Unsatisfactory or expensive settlements	Authenticity Compliance Costs
Loss of corporate memory	Unable to rely on past evidence to inform current decision-making Insufficient resources to support branding and marketing	Authenticity Business Continuity Corporate/Cultural Memory Reputation Revenue
The archive team do not have the tools required for effective search and retrieval of digital holdings	Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes Loss of productivity/revenue	Business Continuity Costs Revenue
Inability to reuse valuable information	Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes Loss of productivity/revenue Limits innovation Fall behind market/competitors	Business Continuity Costs Reputation Revenue
Volume of data continues to grow without action being taken	Data loss/corruption Disruption of business’s functions Increased costs now and in the future Loss of productivity/revenue	Business Continuity Compliance Costs Reputation Security

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create?

Digital Preservation can…	Key Motivators
enable better cooperation with regulatory bodies by sustaining access to reliable records as evidence of actions.	Accountability Compliance
allow an organization to defend decisions and attribute responsibility by sustaining access to reliable records as evidence of actions for legal, regulatory and IPR cases	Accountability Compliance
enable the organization to respond more efficiently to legal holds by sustaining access to reliable records	Accountability Compliance
demonstrate increased transparency through improved access to records for stakeholders,	Accountability
inspire brand evolution through an understanding of corporate history enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records	Reputation Corporate/Cultural Memory
inform business initiatives today through an understanding of previous decisions and rationale enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records	Business Continuity Corporate/Cultural Memory Enabling Research
protect against financial losses by enabling the provision of evidence for legal and regulatory cases	Costs Compliance
add value and create opportunities for the business by leveraging corporate memory as an asset	Corporate/Cultural Memory
provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion according to specified retention schedules, which results in reduced storage requirements	Business Continuity Costs Technology

What do Businesses need to enable Digital Preservation?

All organisations require the same things to enable effective digital preservation.

Go to Digital Preservation Needs