What Happens to Business Records When Technology Reaches End of Life?
Business technology changes much faster than the information businesses create. An accounting system may be replaced after several years, while the invoices inside it could still be needed much later. Contracts, employee records, technical drawings, audit evidence, and transaction histories can face the same problem. Digital Archiving helps organizations separate valuable records from the technology that created them so important information can remain accessible even after software, hardware, and platforms reach end of life. This is becoming increasingly important as organizations modernize older systems. Replacing technology is relatively straightforward. Making sure the information remains understandable years later is a much bigger challenge. Why Business Records Can Outlive Their Technology Every digital record depends on technology in some way. A document may rely on a particular application to open it. A database may require specific software to interpret its structure. A...