Managing information around the world.

Today, managing information in Australia is not that much different than managing information in the European Union or Canada. All face the same basic issues and share similar processes, standards, regulations, and best practices. Still, there is much that can be learned from information management processes in countries that are not your own. Sharing valuable insight across oceans not only helps information managers in one country better understand information management in another country, but it also helps information managers avoid making the same missteps their colleagues in another city, nation, or country may have made.

This issue of The Information Management Journal provides a glimpse of information management initiatives around the world--initiatives that may be desperately needed in your organization or provide valuable lessons-learned for your own program.

In "Adopting Electronic Records Management: European Strategic Initiatives" Martin Waldron examines how increased regulations, information management standards, and European Commission directives on e-commerce and e-signatures are driving electronic records management in Europe. Profiles of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Holland reveal that "records management has a new and crucial role in supporting delivery of e-government and e-business services" across Europe. And this is a huge shift, Martin writes, because records management in Europe has long been perceived as an activity of little true business value. Now, however, it is being discussed at the topic levels as public- and private-sector organizations develop business and information strategies.

ISO 15489 may be the first international records management standard, but it most likely will not he the last. Margaret Crockett and Janet Foster discuss ISO 15489 as a comprehensive and practical basis for auditing full and partial records management programs in "Using ISO 15489 as a Records Management Audit Tool." Whether your business is a small European pharmaceutical company or a large Fortune 500 corporation, if you manage, use, or gather information from international sources, it will benefit you to learn more about this standard.

With more and more companies increasingly doing business internationally, they are bound to use, process, and store multilingual content. in fact, according to Suzanne Mescan, more companies have multilingual information and are struggling to manage it. In "Why Content Management Should Be Part of Every Organization's Global Strategy,' she explains the challenges of creating, using, and sharing content in a global marketplace and how a content management system can help organizations better manage and control such information.

Whether an organization is based in New Zealand or Zambia, no one is immune from online crime. It has become a costly epidemic for organizations worldwide, and no one is quite sure how to stop it. In "Security and Risk Management: Organizing for Success," Arthur C. McAdams says that all organizations must focus on managing security and risk, including organizational structures, skill sets, processes, and methodologies. The price of online crime is rising for businesses everywhere. According to CSO magazine, online criminals are attacking corporate and government networks more frequently, and it cost businesses alone $666 million last year. According to McAdams, organizations cannot afford to treat security as an adjunct activity; they must consider it an integrated part of their normal business.

No matter where you work in the world today, more and more companies and governments are considering information management an integrated and integral part of their business, as it should be.