Transition Time

Jim Teske, president of RecordMax USA LLC, based in Jackson, Miss., serves as president of PRISM International for the 2012 term. While Teske is happy to repay the association and industry that have brought so much to his life professionally and personally throughout the years, he says he has found the time commitment challenging, particularly in light of PRISM’s current transition to new management.

“For me personally, I think the biggest challenge has been the time commitment required over the last 12 months (and ongoing) to effectively define and then execute the transition effort related to Jim Booth’s (PRISM’s executive director since 1999) departure,” Teske says. “I even set expectations with my business partner and my wife about how much time I thought this would take. Openly it has been far more than what I expected.”

Teske and the transition committee, which has been led by immediate past-President Chris Pearson, felt a responsibility to recreate the feeling of family that exists among PRISM members and the current staff under the leadership of Booth. “Keeping that culture became a key requirement for choosing our new management company. I think all of us who have been involved have put in the time necessary because the responsibility is huge and we’ve all wanted to make the best possible decision and get the best long-term result.”

Teske shares his thoughts on the transition as well as the outlook for the records and information management industry in general in the following Q&A with SDB Editor DeAnne Toto.
 

SDB: What are your goals for PRISM during your presidency?

Jim Teske (J.T.): As you know, we’ve undertaken a major transition in replacing our longtime Executive Director Jim Booth. This has been a significant focus for our board of directors since Jim announced at the end of 2009 that he thought the time was approaching for him to move on. We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of time to truly plan this out and get the best possible result. Effective very recently, I’ve signed the paperwork to get our new Executive Director Dave Bergeson on board along with hiring a new management group, the Association Management Center.

I’m also working closely with Chris Pearson who led the effort on our new Privacy Plus Certification program. The first workshop was earlier this year and exceeded attendance expectations. The second workshop will be in May at our annual conference and expo in Las Vegas. On-site audits are scheduled for next year. We’re confident that Privacy Plus will bring recognition to PRISM International as well as to our individual members while also enhancing the overall focus on security and privacy to the benefit of our customers.

In addition, we’ve established International Advisory Councils in the Asia-Pacific region, in Europe and in Latin America to help with the continued expansion of our membership around the globe. Over 30 percent of PRISM International membership is now outside of the United States, so we continue to work hard to add to the value proposition and brand recognition for the global information community.

These days, I’m in the process of trying to finalize a purchasing portal through which PRISM International members can buy products and services at a discounted rate (based on their membership in the association). We hope to have that relationship finalized shortly and to demonstrate the portal, plus sign up members, at the conference in Las Vegas.

Lastly, there is a strong focus on serving our membership as it relates to data protection services. PRISM added annual data protection workshops and new educational material in the last several years. Now I’m working diligently with one of the newer members of our board, Shaun Stevens of Cornerstone (a well-respected veteran in the data protection community who now heads up the Data Protection Task Group for PRISM) to assure he has the resources to meet his goals for our membership. There are some exciting things coming down the pike in this area.

SDB: What changes might members notice as PRISM International is transitioned to an association management company? What progress has been made in selecting that association management company?

J.T.: As far as changes, I think there will be a few quick wins that are introduced to members in the coming months; however, the immediate focus is assuring a smooth transition.

As far as progress, as I mentioned earlier, PRISM International has recently finalized agreements with Association Management Center (www.connect2amc.com) in Glenview, Ill., as the new home and headquarters for PRISM International. There will be an increasing level of interaction between AMC, the PRISM board, Jim and the current staff, with a formal transition currently scheduled for June 1, 2012.

Long term, our members (including myself, because I’m ultimately a member) hold PRISM accountable to not only assist in things like education, networking and industry value proposition issues but also to maintain a very personalized touch and feel, as established over the years by Jim and our staff. Our members should expect to continue having people serve them with a high level of respect and with a culture consistent with what they’re used to getting. However we’re adding a significant amount of new resources through the transition that should enhance everything we do, for both our members and our corporate partners. While it’s a little too early to get into specifics, I expect new membership initiatives, new education resources and enhanced marketing programs will be a part of the mix.

SDB: What are you looking forward to as the organization’s members prepare to convene in Las Vegas for the annual conference in May? Do you have any advice for attendees to ensure they make the most of this year’s event and their membership in general?

J.T.: This year’s conference in May should be very exciting for our members. We’ll have the opportunity to formally thank Jim and his staff for their contributions to the wonderful foundation we have today. And we’ll have the opportunity to introduce Dave Bergeson and several members of our new team.

From keynote speaker Terry Jones (founder and former CEO of Travelocity) to a lot of exciting sessions (health care audits, data privacy, cloud computing, sales in the government sector, advanced marketing, etc.), this conference has something for everyone. My hope would be that people stay around for the round-table sessions on Thursday. There are some great topics that will be covered, and the interactive environment of round tables offers a lot of perspective from experienced and nonexperienced practitioners alike.

We also have roughly 50 corporate partners exhibiting at the conference. Attendees should plan ahead and schedule some dedicated time to visit with them and ask lots of questions. There is so much going on in our industry, and the corporate partners have not only their own new offerings to present but they also work with so many of our peers and get so many different perspectives. Interaction with so many corporate partners in one place at one time can be one of the most valuable parts of the annual conference.

Interested parties should visit the “Events” page on the PRISM website (at www.prismintl.org) for all the details.

SDB: How would you characterize the current regulatory climate regarding to data security and records retention? Do you foresee new legislation or regulation affecting records management firms?

J.T.: From a general perspective, everyone is fairly familiar with the government’s efforts in protecting confidential health and financial information. There is clearly significant regulatory activity within our industry (or the business community in general) that makes the new Privacy Plus program very timely.

There are also efforts within labor relations and unionization that could have a big impact on small businesses. In the third quarter of last year, the National Labor Relations Board rendered a 3-1 decision that may make it easier for unions to organize within an operating unit.

And many of our members play an active role within the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), with fire protection regulations and issues being of course a huge consideration in the physical document storage environment.

On a slightly more detailed level, the European Commission proposed comprehensive reform of the EU’s 1995 data protection rules. While intended to strengthen online privacy rights and do away with fragmentation and administrative burdens across the 27 member states, the new directive creates some potential concerns, or at least issues to be addressed, for information management businesses. PRISM’s new Advisory Council in Europe is doing an assessment of the regulatory and advocacy issues in Europe that will be presented to PRISM’s board in the future.

Related to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), the Office of Civil Rights is actively pursuing violations or breaches and seemingly finding them. Information managers have to take their commitments to protected health information very seriously or risk significant penalty.

I can say with confidence that leaders and strategic planning resources within PRISM International, working in tandem with the leaders at NAID (National Association for Information Destruction), are working with federal legislators on a fair and equitable acceptable level of data privacy for our industry.
 

SDB: What do you feel will be the biggest challenge for information management industry in the year ahead?

J.T.: As mentioned, I think privacy and/or security are clearly paramount from a business owner’s perspective. As information becomes far more commonly handled, distributed, stored and/or managed in digital form, the processes related to protecting this information multiply exponentially. Increasing regulatory activity in conjunction with increasing enforcement of penalties has to be on the minds of PRISM members. We all have to take specific proactive steps to ensure we have the processes to protect both the interests of our customers and our businesses.

On a very related note, this explosion in the volumes of digital information, in conjunction with the migration of paper records into digital records, means that business owners must become well versed in new technologies as well as how to migrate their overall business strategies for this new marketplace. The hospitals that have used us for traditional storage and delivery, handling miles upon miles of patient charts, will begin to send us boxed records because the charts have already been scanned in house. In the next year or so, at least for specific providers, purges of medical records from the hospital to the off-site storage company will no longer occur. We must be focused on how to replace that ongoing residual revenue stream with a host of new services and we must do it quickly. In fact, we hopefully started planning for that several years ago. Now should be the time where we’re implementing what we’ve been planning.
 

SDB: What PRISM initiatives are you most excited about as the association embarks on a new year?

J.T.: I probably have an equal level of excitement on our international growth and efforts through the new Advisory Councils as well as the potential impact on members through the new Privacy Plus program.

There are a couple other initiatives that are more in the planning stages right now so I don’t want to set expectations quite yet until I’m sure we can deliver.

SDB: What are your goals for the Privacy Plus Certification program this year?

J.T.: I think a realistic goal is that about 20 to 25 percent of our members will have attended one of the two initial workshops in 2012. We’re trying to finalize the auditing process as well as formalize the actual relationship with the auditing firm, with on-site audits to begin sometime next year. We’re working on marketing programs to both continue distributing the benefits of certification to the PRISM International membership as well as to get the word out among our customer base and the records management community.

Jim Teske is president of RecordMax USA LLC, based in Jackson, Miss., and president of PRISM International. He can be contacted at jim@recordmax.com.