Published: April 12, 2017 by Anna Maloney

Records and Information Management Month is a great opportunity for records managers and archivists alike to share the value of RIM and to garner excitement for the future. In a March 2017 opinion piece in Information Management, Jon Tilbury, Chief Technology Officer for Preservica, forecasted the following predictions regarding the future of digital preservation:

• Media and file formats will continue to become obsolete. This is not exactly a new challenge–in 2006, a librarian founded the Museum of Obsolete Media to collect and honor bygone audio, video, film, and data formats. Every year, another format or program is retired–in 2016, Microsoft discontinued support for Windows 8 and Apple confirmed that it would stop developing security patches for QuickTime and .MOV files.
• Digital preservation will step into mainstream business. Tilbury estimates an increase in the adoption of digital preservation throughout 2017, as healthcare and insurance organizations continue to trend toward electronic records and government agencies look to meet new digital requirements regarding records retention and access.  
• Rise of automation in digital preservation. As the theories behind information governance and holistic information management are incorporated into electronic records management programs, Tilbury expects increased integration between electronic content management systems and e-mail systems, as well as more automation in digital preservation programs. Other areas of RIM have also been energized by automation–an artificially intelligent robot that removes staples and other fasteners is currently in development by Silicon Valley start up Ripcord.
• More information will be safeguarded by the cloud. In 2017, the cloud is less of a technology buzzword and more of a pillar in organizations’ data and information storage programs. “Through-out 2017 organizations will seek to combine digital preservation software with cloud storage to build highly durable hybrid and multi-provider cloud storage environments.”

As the realm of records and information management professionals becomes increasingly tied to the technology realm, it is important stay abreast of trends and changes. If you are interested in learning about other predicted trends in the space of records, information, and data, check out Gartner’s list of 10 strategic technology trends for 2017.