Large corporations often contemplate just how they can most effectively and efficiently improve their environmental impact and "carbon footprint" when they are unsure about their legal responsibility to store hundreds of thousands of pounds of original documents in their cavernous storage facilities. In steps Steve Lee & Associates (SL&A), who, by leveraging their expertise in litigation, records management, discovery and the manipulation of vast data sets, have pioneered a innovative "data remediation" initiative.
As reported on October 19 on reuters.com, SL&A's proprietary remediation program aids businesses in legally and ethically discarding and recycling their data (which includes electronically stored information as well as paper documents, microfiche and various other media.) SL&A works with budding enterprise-level environmentalists hesitant to rid their storage facilities, file cabinets, desks, and servers of years' worth of dormant and inactive information. The firm provides the factual basis for the remediation, and their attorney partners provide the requisite legal counsel concerning retention policies, preservation requirements and litigation holds.
Managing Partner Steve Lee said, "Corporations keep millions of boxes of paper records, thousands of pounds of microfiche, millions of back-up tapes and tons of old disks - all just sitting around in storage. Our pipeline of Fortune 500 data remediation projects is expected to lead to legally and ethically discarding and recycling upwards of 100 million pounds of paper records over the next few years. That's the equivalent of ten 10-story buildings of paper, 100 feet per side!"
Lee added that "return on investment is typically achieved within just months. There are immediate cost savings on storage, and considerable savings - though much more difficult to predict - associated with avoiding future and unnecessary litigation discovery review."
By working hand-in hand with their legal partners, SL&A obtains an understanding of the origins, policies and practices that gave rise to a company's records and assessing which of those records need to be maintained. Using proprietary document recognition, statistical analyses and artificial intelligence routines, SL&A tests the content of the records to determine whether or not they need to be preserved. Information that must be retained is identified, tagged and stored, with the remainder being securely recycled (if/where possible.)
"Electronic record keeping has made it possible to live in a more paperless world, but legacy documents remain dead weight and uncontrolled proliferation of electronic records creates new problems. Understanding and remediating dormant records helps enterprises offload storage costs and environmental burdens. It also leads to the implementation of sustainable and intelligent retention policies, so that companies do not have to deal with the same problem again five years down the road," said Mr. Lee.
"When companies divest themselves of mountains of paper, they save money, curb energy waste and reduce the enterprise's carbon footprint. This may ultimately contribute to mitigating deforestation. We've been told that 100 million pounds of paper is roughly the equivalent of a half square mile of dense forest that doesn't need to be destroyed," Lee concluded.