For decades, managing records meant rows of filing cabinets, stacks of boxes, and off-site storage rooms filled with labeled folders. These purely paper-based systems were never designed to keep up with the speed, scale, or regulatory complexity of today’s digital world. With information multiplying across every department and platform, businesses are under pressure to rethink how they manage records.
Moving to a digital-first approach isn’t as simple as converting paper files to PDFs. It’s a deeper shift that redefines how information is organized, accessed, and governed. Below are five key steps for moving from paper to digital, highlighting the benefits of automated retention, and offering guidance on crafting a bulletproof digital retention policy.
1. Understand What You Have
Start by seeking to understand your current landscape: what records you have, where they’re stored, and who’s responsible for them. This means going beyond a rough inventory; teams must identify document types, assess how often each is used, and determine the legal or regulatory obligations tied to them. This discovery phase often reveals surprising redundancies and risks. For example, some departments may be holding on to paper copies of digital files, unsure of what can be safely discarded. These insights are invaluable in helping shape a digital strategy that’s both efficient and compliant.
Here’s Tanya Johnson, Regional Account Executive at Access, on how to integrate retention management best practices into your information management clean-up efforts from our webinar, Spring Cleaning: Chaos to Confidence:
2. Build the Right Digital Foundation
Once the scope is clear, attention can turn to digital infrastructure. A strong digital records program begins with a centralized system that offers secure storage, robust search capabilities, and permission-based access. Whether you’re using a cloud-based content management platform, an enterprise information governance tool, or both, the goal is the same: to provide employees with easy access to what they need, while protecting sensitive information and ensuring that records are retained in accordance with policy.
Consistency is key. File naming conventions, metadata tags, and document classifications must be standardized across the organization. Without these controls, a digital archive can quickly become just as unwieldy as a paper one.
Here’s Matthew Bennett, Business Development Executive at Access, on the importance of indexing for all records, including your physical files, in this clip from our webinar on Strategic Digitzation:
Security is equally important. Any platform used to store business-critical records should support encryption, audit logging, and legal hold functionality. That way, in the event of a regulatory inquiry or litigation, your organization can demonstrate that records have been properly managed and that no information was deleted prematurely.
3. Automate Retention to Reduce Risk
One of the most powerful benefits of moving to digital records is the ability to automate retention schedules. In a paper world, retention often depends on someone remembering to check a spreadsheet or clean out a file drawer. In a digital system, rules can be applied automatically based on document type, creation date, department, or other metadata.
Retention periods can be built into the system, with alerts or auto-disposition workflows triggered when a record reaches the end of its lifecycle. These tools not only reduce human error but also ensure compliance with ever-changing regulations.
For organizations subject to complex regulatory frameworks, many systems now enable direct integration with retention schedules aligned to laws such as HIPAA, FINRA, or GDPR. That means changes to legal requirements can be directly integrated into your policy logic, eliminating the need for manual updates and reducing compliance gaps.
Here’s Omero B., Senior Counsel at Access, on the benefits of using retention schedule software from our webinar, Streamlining Retention with Citation Databases:
4. Create a Digital-First Retention Policy
A digital-first retention policy should begin with a clear and concise explanation of its purpose and scope, using plain language to define roles, responsibilities, and key terms. Instead of attaching a dense spreadsheet of retention periods, integrate retention schedules directly into your system so that records are automatically classified and managed according to the policy. Metadata becomes the engine of compliance, not just a labeling tool.
Equally important is ongoing education. Employees need to understand why retention matters, how to follow the policy, and where to go with questions. Brief, role-specific training, paired with access to self-service guides, can go a long way in building adoption and reducing risky workarounds.
5. Stay Ahead with Regular Review
A records retention program should be a living framework that adapts as your business evolves. As departments grow, new tools are introduced, or regulations change, retention rules and procedures should be regularly reviewed and updated.
This is where strong governance and clear ownership over records management are crucial. Appointing someone or a small team to oversee retention practices helps ensure policies stay up to date and are applied consistently across departments. It also provides your organization with a go-to person when questions arise during an audit or legal review. By tracking simple indicators, such as the time it takes to find files or the frequency of policy overrides, you can identify what’s working and where attention is needed.
Final Thought: A Strategic Shift with Lasting Impact
Moving beyond paper isn’t just about saving space. It’s about reshaping how organizations handle their information, making it easier to find, protect, and use what matters most. This shift brings clarity and control to what was once a messy, manual process.