Considering Changing Your System of Record? Key Risks and Practical Mitigation Strategies

As your organization pursues new objectives, there may be discussions about transitioning away from a solution that has been the foundation of your information governance strategy — your “system of record.” Factors impacting such a decision include platform changes (on-premises to cloud), modernization (mainframe to distributed), consolidation which involves extending to other business activities such as mergers and acquisitions, and others. Organizations also want to ensure that investments in modernization are primed to achieve desired efficiencies (GenAI-enabled and other).

One of our prior posts stated that “the evolution of business hinges on transforming massive volumes of operational and unstructured data into actionable knowledge.” Organizations are increasingly focused on improving data quality, governance, and access all while also pursuing ambitious AI goals.    

Regardless of the prompting activity, ensure you consider the following factors if your organization is contemplating a change from your system of record:

Regulatory compliance:  

Will the new/combined system fully align with all regulatory frameworks with which you must comply? If not, consider how you will mitigate this situation to avoid inadvertent violations.  

“Documentation” gaps:  

Transitioning from solution to solution is likely to disrupt audit trails or required documentation mandated by regulators. Even if a gap is for a short term, determine how this will be addressed.  

Data integrity and security risks  

The process of data migration may introduce errors, such as inaccurate results or incomplete data transfers, which will compromise data integrity.  

Security gaps:  

New solutions may introduce vulnerabilities if not properly configured or assessed, increasing the risk of breaches. While the term “vulnerabilities” is most frequently associated with the NIST listing of CVEs (aka Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), this definition extends to improper access by incorrect parties, both internal and external, among other negative impacts.  

Operational disruption  

Changing solutions must be planned with care to prevent downtime, delays, and service interruptions. It is critical to avoid or mitigate challenges with published or assumed uptime and/or service level agreements.  

Process/application misalignment:  

Content solutions are typically interweaved into a variety of business applications and processes. New solutions may not automatically interconnect with existing processes or workflows. Ensure you consider time for integration efforts and subsequent thorough testing, so compliance-critical processes are not impacted.  

Audit readiness:  

Changes may prompt increased scrutiny from regulators and auditors. Plan for additional oversight by proactively compiling detailed change information, validation reports, and other supporting details. Ensure you remain focused on information governance processes, policies, and standards to proactively safeguard sensitive data and ensure privacy.  

Resistance to change:  

During transitions, users may resort to the use of alternative and/or unauthorized information gathering techniques, which may create compliance blind spots. Further, inconsistent change management or compressed timelines can lead to inconsistent adoption, increasing the risk of non-compliance with your information governance standards.  

Mitigation strategies  

Given these considerations, the following are concepts that should be considered when contemplating a change involving your system of record:  

• Conduct comprehensive risk assessments before initiating changes.  
• Involve compliance officers and legal teams early in the planning process and throughout the project.  
• Integrate subject matter experts during all phases of this initiative.  
• Ensure robust training and change management for all stakeholders (IT, business, users).  
• Perform regular audits during and after the transition.  

How Rocket can help:  

For over 40 years, the world’s largest organizations have trusted Rocket^® Mobius^® to manage, process, and protect massive amounts of sensitive information. As your requirements mature and you evaluate your modernization strategy, consider the following:  

Modernization: Use of Mobius permits organizations unparalleled platform flexibility, whether involving mainframe, on-premises, hybrid cloud, or cloud —all without reprocessing information. Combined with flexible process and application integration capabilities, which support consolidation and cost optimization, Rocket meets you where you are in your information management lifecycle. Learn more here.  

Information governance: Mobius provides the critical functionality required to aid you with your governance objectives: rules-based redaction, encryption, records management/legal holds, retention, auditing, and data matching (including validation and reconciliation). Mobius improves accuracy by removing errors introduced by manual reviews, increases the speed with which tasks can be completed, and reduces costs by offloading manual tasks to technology that standardizes result sets. Learn more here.  

Commitment to GenAI: Thoughtful incorporation of GenAI technologies into your information landscape, such as Rocket^® Content Smart Chat, adds power and flexibility to your organization without compromising information access or security. Other GenAI functionality, such as auto identification and extraction of information, complement your strategies.  

Expertise: Rocket’s Customer Solutions Engineering team has deep expertise in aiding customers to bring information under consolidated management in Mobius. Regardless of where that information currently resides (e.g., file shares, aging technology, other systems) and regardless of prompting factors (e.g., consolidation, modernization, cost considerations), Rocket has experts who understand the concepts that may impact your organization’s current and future information governance requirements and can streamline your transition.