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includes using it as a knowledge man agement system. This can involve customizing it to identify questions that have already been answered, perhaps by lawyers working in other offices. Automated destruction settings can also be added, to ensure that certain types of documents — such as a plea — are deleted after a certain period of time. "Use it to help you get rid of stuff that's useless and just takes up space," says Jaar. While some may balk at the thought of precious data being accidentally deleted by an automated tool, this is less of a problem than the danger of hard drive crashes, or being unaware of what information is being retained and for how long, Jaar adds. And there are particular risks associated with using a more ad hoc records system, he says. For example, an unsophisticated system hosted by IT could unwittingly provide workers with access to confidential information — such as the names of those in a redundancy pool. It's about reviewing the existing processes. You really need a three-year plan, rather than an overnight approach. DOMINIC JAAR, KPMG Sensitive data on mergers or acquisitions could also be overly accessible, bringing the possibility of insider trading. Piasentin says Sierra Systems has "already saved costs" due to the reduced need for lots of paper storage, although work continues on scanning and destroying the physical copies of documents. An annual review is held to help decide what needs to be stored and what can be thrown away. Despite the benefits of in-house document management systems, many companies are still "stuck in the mindset that having filing cabinets full of paper files with a lock on is the best way to file documents," says Borins. Some say they are put off due to security concerns. But a lot of [tools] offer security that matches "the highest level of online banking," he argues. Borins makes the point that not all aspects of document management have to be dealt with internally. "In switching to a digital system, you'll want to maintain paper references for a period of time — there are companies who can handle these aspects for you. "There's always the option to offload [parts of it] to someone; that may be the best use of everyone's resources," he says. IH Employment and Labour Lawyers Experience Counts. Referrals respected and appreciated. Shields O'Donnell MacKillop LLP 416.304.6400 65 Queen Street W, Suite 1800, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 2M5 Shields_IH_Apr_11.indd 1 w w w. c a n a d i a n law y er m a g . c o m / i n h o u s E august3/1/11 10:04:5629 2013 • AM

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