Ludicrous mismanagement of corporate IP must end
Ludicrous mismanagement of corporate IP must end
Sep 19, 2005: The lack of control exercised by corporates over their intellectualproperty (IP) must be addressed if they want to avoid being left exposedby IP theft or the inability to produce documentation when requested to doso in an action.
Speaking at MediaConnect's Face the IT Media Forum, at the Cypress lakesresort in the Hunter Valley, Gerry Sillars, director of data managementsoftware vendor CommVault, made reference to a recent Gartner report,which found that 60 percent of corporate IP resides in employees' email,outwith the control of the organisation.
"It just seems ludicrous that companies will continue to leave 60 percentof their IP unmanaged and outwith their control when solutions areavailable to manage this important information," said Sillars.
And with industry reports indicating that the amount of data producedglobally in the next two years will be twice as much as the amount of dataproduced in history prior to that, the problem will only escalate.
Sillars voiced his concerns during a panel discussion on regulatorycompliance, during which Nick Abrahams, of legal firm Deacons, talkedabout the importance of establishing policies around regulatorycompliance, and emphasised that simplicity was vital in ensuring thatpolicies are effective and adhered to.
"There's no point in having a policy if it's ignored. Similarly, there'sno point in having a policy that is so complex that it prevents peoplefrom being able to go about their jobs properly."
Abrahams also sought to clear some misconceptions around the new NSWWorkplace Surveillance Act.
"There has been an incredible amount of misinformation around this Act. Itwill not mean that employers will no longer be able to monitor theiremployees emails, but rather that they will have to give any employee whothey wish to monitor 14 days notice that they are to do so," saidAbrahams.
While any such warning would give a member of staff ample time to hide anytrace of wrongdoing, employers would get around this by having employeessign a document that gives their permission for their employer to look attheir emails as part of their employment contract.
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