As you know Dan Keldsen and I have wrapped up our Market IQ on Content Security and are in the throes of the Market IQ on Enterprise 2.0. Last Friday, an item hit the news that once again shows the need to balance these to seemingly opposing technology genres.
As we introduced in the Content Security Market IQ, organizations today are faced with a balancing act between leveraging IT to promote collaboration (the focus of the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 Market IQ), and the need to leverage technology to leverage IT to ensure compliance and responsible security. All too often however, organizations err on one side or another, not holistically, but typically on an application-by-application basis.
So, let’s once again turn to current events to illustrate this point. The Mayor of Detroit is apparently going to lose his sexual harassment suit (against him), despite his sworn testimony that he is innocent. The court recently decided that 14,000 instant messages that say differently are admissible, and are likely to be the fete accompli in ruling.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was quoted as saying “It is extremely embarrassing to have these extremely private messages now displayed in such a public manner.” Perhaps so, but such is litigation. Electronic communication leaves a trail. Use of such enabling technologies needs to be rationalized between the convenience/value it provides and the risk it represents. Never should they be dismissed as inconsequential land above the law (or below its radar).
In March we will be publishing our findings on Enterprise 2.0. But, early survey results seem to indicate that forums such as blogs and wikis are more often than not, not positioned within an organization’s content security and/or records management strategy. So OK – one more time, hear our warning, all content needs to be rationalized within the collaboration security spectrum.
