From AI-driven automation to the growing demand for defensible disposition and digital preservation, the coming year promises big shifts in how businesses manage information.

In this blog, Zasio’s experts share their predictions for 2026.

Jennifer Chadband — Senior Consultant, CRM, IGP, CIPP/E, Licensed Attorney

Records and information software will continue to build momentum towards simpler, more connected ways of working. Evolving technology and tools that automate filing and disposal will make it easier than ever to manage information, freeing teams to focus on higher‑value work. A growing sense of urgency will also accelerate a big shift already underway: viewing records not merely as compliance requirements, but as resources to organize and use to improve decision‑making.

In 2026, this familiar goal will be more vital than ever: build programs that are easy to follow, reduce wasted effort, and maximize the value of the information organizations already possess.

Will Fletcher, General Counsel, CIPP/US/E, IGP

RIM and IG professionals will intensify their focus on capturing and retaining “records of compliance” across the increasingly complex landscape of data privacy and AI regulations.

For data privacy, critical records of compliance include transfer impact assessments, data protection impact assessments, and evidence of DSAR compliance. For AI, they include AI impact assessments, AI architecture documentation, retention and deletion logs for AI inputs and outputs, and the policies and standards that comprise an organization’s responsible AI governance program.

Organizations relying on digital systems and automation must also ensure these systems can produce record outputs on demand, and preserve them for as long as necessary, whether for regulatory investigations or legal defense.

Warren Bean — VP Technology & Product Development, CRM, CISM

• AI agents will require management similar to human users to control identity and access management. This includes which agents can access specific data repositories, what actions they can perform, and how to verify their authenticity.
• Governance frameworks will expand to include human oversight of AI systems and validation of LLMs and inference outcomes.
• Archivists will have to rethink the concept of ‘provenance’—the history of records and information, including their movements and transformations–-in light of AI deepfakes.

Rick Surber, Senior Consultant, CRM, IGP, Licensed Attorney

As AI growth accelerates in 2026, phishing and other information security intrusions will become more convincing and successful. This will cause data breaches to become more common as attackers use AI to automate social engineering and scale their efforts. In response, solid information governance will matter more than ever.

Clear retention rules, continuity planning, strong information security practices, and well-defined response processes will be essential—not to prevent every incident, but to limit impact, speed recovery, and prevent disruptions from escalating into expensive, long-lasting problems.

Stephanie Martin, Vice President of Product Management & Support

Privacy, security, cost, and accuracy concerns will continue to slow adoption of new AI agents, especially for smaller organizations. Large infrastructure costs and regulatory demands without parallel profits will likely accelerate the price of AI services. However, the benefits of AI will be limited if records lack quality, consistent metadata, or proper organization, making data hygiene a prerequisite for success. Accordingly, successful records management will still depend on record quality.

Navigating the Future of Records & Information Management in 2026

Preparing for 2026 requires a strategic alignment of policy, security, and high-quality metadata. Zasio’s enterprise-grade records management software is specifically designed to handle these complexities, offering the automation and defensible disposition tools necessary to stay ahead of the curve.

Contact Zasio today to learn how our experts and technology can help you audit and optimize your RIM program for the future.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance topics. The statements are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the application of the law to your business activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

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One has become rooted in organizational culture. Well-vetted and highly operationalized, it is enthusiastically supported at all levels. The other barely exists beyond its dust-covered charter. Its policies and procedures are scattered among the ROT (redundant, obsolete, trivial) data in which they lie. Some question whether these policies were even formally approved. And the mere thought of an audit causes program owners to cringe.

Why do some IG initiatives succeed while others fail? Perhaps the reason lies in how well their founders understand stakeholder management.

Why Information Governance Stakeholder Management Matters

IT, legal, risk, compliance, privacy, security, impacted business units, and information asset vendors form the essential lineup of stakeholders in any IG initiative. The IG professional is the coach who must ensure this diverse team performs well together on heavy issues like how to simultaneously respect each other’s often divergent interests while ensuring information assets are put to their highest and best use. There’s also the essential task of managing for risk and compliance.

It’s a weighty undertaking, and stakeholder coordination and collaboration can easily consume the IG professional. But get stakeholder management right, and your IG program stands a much better chance of reaching enduring success.

The IG professional must correctly identify each stakeholder and their interest relevant to their IG program. To do this, whether for the first time or when updating your stakeholder inventory, it can be helpful to think of each stakeholder as belonging to one of four categories:

• Approval: Those whose formal endorsement is required for all or any portion of your initiative.
• Support: Those who control the resources you’ll need.
• Consult: Those whose advice or expertise will shape your approach, whether immediately or in the long term.
• Inform: Those who should be kept in the loop, even if they’re not directly involved.

 Approve, Support, Consult, Inform: ASCI, for short.

Categorizing stakeholders under this approach can lead to a more comprehensive and intentional IG strategy. It helps IG professionals avoid common pitfalls like overlooking key voices and reducing risks related to program resistance or conflicting expectations.

Let’s break down each category:

Those from Whom You Need Approval

These are your decision-makers, such as the executives or governing bodies whose formal backing is essential to move your initiative forward.

Examples:

• The C-suite (especially the CIO, CISO, and legal department)
• Governance committees
• Budget and finance officers

Strategy: When approaching “approval stakeholders,” be sure to present a compelling business case that lines up IG goals with organizational priorities like risk reduction, compliance, and operational efficiency. Use metrics and communicate in a language they’ll understand, such as describing things in terms of ROI, quantifying risk reduction, and specifically identifying cost savings.

Those from Whom You Need Support

“Support stakeholders” are your active bench of players; your operational decision makers. For example, if you’re adjusting a retention period, these are your authorizers. They may not have the authority to approve your initiative, but their active involvement and advocacy are crucial. They help implement and sustain the program.

Examples:

• Department heads from impacted business units
• IT, security, and privacy teams
• Records managers and data stewards
• Outside stakeholders like information asset vendors.

Strategy: Approach them early, listen to their concerns, and show how your IG initiative supports their goals. Empower them as agents of change. Also establish a streamlined process for policy and other IG updates. Their buy-in often determines whether the initiative gains traction or flounders.

Those You Should Consult

These individuals have valuable insights, experience, and technical knowledge that can shape your initiative’s success. While “consulting stakeholders” may not be directly involved in your initiative, their input can provide you with critical perceptions.

Examples:

• Frontline employees
• Legal and risk advisors
• External consultants

Strategy: Create structured feedback opportunities like interviews, workshops, and pilot programs. Make  their input visible. Consultation builds trust.

Those You Need to Keep Informed

These are stakeholders who don’t need to be involved in decision-making or implementation but still should be kept up to date of your IG initiative’s goings on. Keeping them informed helps ease frictions, avoid resistance, issue spot, and manage risk.

Examples:

• Some customers.
• Marketing and public relations.
• Anyone else not already involved as a stakeholder who might influence perception and adoption, or champion your initiative from the sidelines.

Strategy: Use clear, concise communication to explain what’s happening, why it matters, and how it will affect the organization. Transparency builds credibility and helps prevent confusion or misinformation.

Final Thoughts

No one factor determines the success or failure of an IG initiative. But using the ASCI method as part of your stakeholder management can help ensure you haven’t left anyone out and are engaging the right people in the right way. It is a simple step that can be critical to building IG program momentum and long-term sustainability.

Also, as your IG initiative grows, don’t forget the importance of maintaining stakeholder relationships across personnel and organizational disruptions. Organizations change, roles change, priorities shift, and people move on. Throughout this turbulence, the IG professional must ensure information governance stakeholder management engagement continuity. In an uneven landscape, the IG professional who maintains this flow across their stakeholder team helps ensure their IG program will endure.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance software. The statements are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the application of the law to your business activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

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Recent Blogs from Will Fletcher

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Versatile 2025 includes all of Zasio’s industry-changing information governance solutions under a single umbrella suite, including physical records management, electronic records management and retention schedule management.

The new update introduces numerous key features, including Zasio’s new Advanced Records Management Module and a new artificial intelligence assistant, (Built with Llama), which makes it easier than ever to search for records retention regulations.

“We are proud to welcome the next major release of Versatile,” said Kevin Zasio, Founder and CEO of Zasio Enterprises. “Versatile 2025 is a testament to our commitment to technology, innovation and providing top-of-the-line information governance solutions.”

The update also provides users with direct access to our expert in-house Records Information Management (RIM) Consultants and a direct interface to our Customer Portal, where customers can communicate directly with our support team and easily access online training videos.

“It’s difficult to convey the scope of this project,” said Warren Bean, Zasio’s Vice President of Technology and Product Development. “We’re taking 37 years of development, with all its depth and complexity, and adapting it to a modern interface that works for cloud and on-prem deployments, while also ensuring existing users don’t have to re-learn an entirely new system.”

Visit us at ARMA InfoCon in Houston, Texas Oct. 13-16, where we will introduce Versatile 2025.

“I am proud of our team’s dedication and hard work providing this significant update for our customers,” Zasio said.

Building on the success of Versatile 2023, Versatile 2025 is Zasio’s next major update to the company’s industry-leading information and compliance platform.

Questions? Visit Zasio.com or email connect@zasio.com for details.

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The FTC raised the flag earlier this year after consumers complained about H&R Block’s seemingly free tax preparation plan and confusing process to downgrade purchased plans. The FTCs’ readiness toward legal action against companies over personal data collection and use shows an effective records and information management program is crucial to safeguarding corporate financial health and sustainability.  

Allegations of Data-Deletion Practices Against H&R Block

In late February 2024, the FTC filed an administrative complaint against the well-known tax filing company alleging two of its policies were unfair and violated antitrust laws. H&R Block advertised a free and simple tax plan to consumers, but according to the FTC, using the plan was anything but. 

According to the complaint, H&R Block provided multiple tax plans, including the free plan. The FTC alleges when consumers went to obtain the free plan, H&R Block coerced them into purchasing a plan with more options. The FTC alleges throughout the online registration process, H&R Block upsold consumers more expensive services and failed to provide a clear breakdown of costs. And while H&R Block allowed consumers to obtain and upgrade services online, downgrading was not as simple. Consumers who easily signed up for a more expensive service online needed to personally contact H&R Block’s customer service department to downgrade, which often resulted in a lengthy exchange with the company. 

The FTC has also alleged when consumers requested a downgrade, H&R Block gave them an unfair choice: pay for a more expensive plan they did not want, or downgrade and lose all their previously entered information. The FTC says these practices cost unwitting consumers time and money.  

The FTC’s Legal Basis Against Wrongful Deletion 

The Fair Information Practice Principles (“FIPPs”) are a collection of principles long used to evaluate information systems and activities that affect individual privacy. For many years, the FIPPs have informed data privacy laws around the globe on how governments and commercial actors alike should approach collecting and processing information about people.  

While the U.S. currently has no comprehensive data privacy law, the FTC has broad enforcement authority to regulate unfair and deceptive commercial practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act. The main purpose of the FTC Act is to protect consumers and foster a competitive and transparent business environment.1 

In the case against H&R Block—and in others—the FTC’s broad enforcement authority has allowed it to enforce the spirit of the Fair Information Practice Principles (“FIPPs”). For example, H&R Blocks’ alleged conduct, if proven, would violate two of the FIPPs: the Purpose specification and use limitation principles. Under these principles, anyone collecting personal information must provide notice of their specific purpose for collection, which should be provided no later than the time of collection. After that, the collected information may only be used for the purpose explained in the notice. Further, personal data collectors must ensure their use is compatible with the specified purpose, or that it is otherwise legally authorized.  

As the H&R Block case demonstrates, collecting consumer data without express notice and for a purpose other than described may lead to legal consequences. Here, H&R Block’s services depended on consumers ability to enter their tax information. But under H&R Block’s alleged practices, there would be little point in receiving consumers’ personal information if not retained in their online database for later use. Therefore, deleting a person’s tax information when they chose to downgrade plans could be considered incompatible with the purpose for which it was collected. 

Consumers who were not informed their information would be deleted upon downgrading were therefore surprised by the forced step backward, rendering the initial collection of the information a waste of time and money at the consumer’s expense. The subsequent use of the information which H&R Block purported to need was then not properly utilized and the purpose of collection not fulfilled. Hence, the alleged coercion becomes a choice between purchasing the more expensive product that the consumer did not want, or downgrade and lose all the information that they have already typed in and would have reasonably expected to be retained.  

FIPP’s As the Law of the Land for Information Governance 

As of this writing, H&R Block has not indicated whether it intends to settle or litigate the FTC’s complaint. Regardless, FTC targeting conduct like that alleged against H&R Block has long been viewed as making U.S. company’s adherence to FIPPs the law of the land. This shows that even without a comprehensive data privacy law and dedicated privacy enforcement agency companies are not free to do whatever they would like with consumer personal information.  

The FTC’s action against H&R Block should be a lesson to the information management and information governance industry: carefully consider your treatment and retention—or non-retention—of consumer information. There may be consequences if you don’t. 

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance topics. The statements are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the application of the law to your business activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

The post FTC Goes After H&R Block for Not Retaining Consumer Data appeared first on Zasio.

• Selecting a potential executive sponsor
• Preparing an effective pitch

Now that you’ve identified your desired catch and cast your line, let’s discuss how you can reel them in and keep them invested—especially when a failure to implement your project could expose your organization to costly regulatory penalties.

Getting an executive sponsor committed can be a lot like fishing: after much preparation and a little luck, you’ll feel that first nibble on your line. But you’ve got to be ready to act! Any angler knows you’ll lose your catch if you’re too aggressive or not aggressive enough. Just like when fishing, finding balance is key—you’ll have the most success landing an executive sponsor if you act consistently, clearly, and concisely.

Be Consistent in All Interactions

Consistency at all stages is critical for a successful relationship with your executive sponsor. When you apply inconsistent pressure to your line, it’s likely to break and leave you empty-handed. While meeting project deadlines and providing accurate deliverables is part of consistency, having regular—not insistent—communication is also key. We all have that one friend who talks too much out on the lake and scares the fish away. Don’t be that person.

Consistency allows for flexibility in the details and execution through maintaining a clear objective with open communication. Regular, scheduled meetings, even if brief, provide a platform to keep your sponsor updated without being bothersome. This approach ensures your executive sponsor is always informed and involved, further fostering your partnership. Conversely, inconsistent contact with your sponsor is the quickest way to lose their trust—and future support.

Be Clear with Your Expectations

Your sponsor is staking their institutional reputation on your project and is expending professional capital to marshal support and resources. Accordingly, you must communicate clear goals and waypoints so they will see progress and share in the wins. You also should ensure your objective is aligned with your sponsor’s so you move in the same direction instead of fighting the line. Provide a broad, high-level goal that will allow your sponsor to clearly and succinctly communicate the project to other stakeholders.

To do this, provide your sponsor with an “elevator pitch” they can use to demonstrate the project’s focus on one or more of your organization’s goals, like cost minimization, while highlighting the risks of not proceeding with your RIM/IG project. Here’s an example to get you started:

Revising our records retention schedule will eliminate duplicative retention, which will cut our storage costs by 20 percent, and decrease the risk of over-retention of client personal data!

Including cost savings estimates or examples of recent enforcement actions—and accompanying fines—is especially useful. This may require collaboration with IT or finance departments to determine your program’s current state and estimate your project’s effects.

Having a clear focus does not mean you can’t adapt when needed. You should be willing to compromise and modify aspects of your project to achieve your objective. Don’t be afraid to take your sponsor’s feedback or make course corrections. Letting a bit of line out is good to keep overall progress moving forward. Compromise demonstrates to your sponsor that you want to get the project done right, not that you have to be right. And that gives you more credibility if you need to stand firm on a less-negotiable portion of the project.

Be Concise When Communicating

Your executive sponsor doesn’t have much time to spend hashing out every detail of your RIM/IG project. Providing a potential sponsor with a clear plan allows them the confidence to delegate the details to you without micromanaging the project. Demonstrate respect for their time, and they’ll likely see you as a self-starter who gets things done. If you’re unprepared and unfocused when talking with them, a palpable negative feeling emerges that can be fatal to sponsorship. Nothing ruins a fishing day like forgetting your tackle box, and nothing ruins a sponsorship like not being able to confidently provide a simple status update.

Again, having a ready summary of enforcement actions against similarly situated companies helps strengthen your project’s importance to the organization. Create a one- or two-sentence summary of the facts and outcome to make it easy for your sponsor to understand and communicate them to others. You will have less influence if you simply send them copies of the decisions or—worse yet—a link to the regulator’s website.

Conclusion

There’s no feeling like landing a prize fish after a long battle. Once your first RIM/IG project is successful, if you’ve been consistent, clear, and concise with your sponsor, you’ll have established a professional relationship that will pay dividends deep into the future. This is critical to developing a robust RIM/IG program. They might be willing to sponsor your next project or provide a vote of confidence in your abilities to other stakeholders. You might even develop a mentor who can guide you to your next career step! So, dream big, plan well, and cast your RIM/IG project into the world to see what you catch.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to provide general education on information governance topics. The statements are informational only and do not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the application of the law to your business activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

The post Developing RIM Program Executive Sponsorship Part 2: Landing an Executive Sponsor appeared first on Zasio.

In a records management dream world, every user would think like a records manager—understanding the value of records, planning for retention and disposition, and being mindful of compliance requirements. But the reality is that everyone has their job to do and records management is an add-on requirement. In the spirit of “Doing More with Less,” this webinar will attempt to find harmony between the dream world and reality by giving you tools to deputize everyday users into the records manager role without adding to their burden. If that sounds too good to be true, join us and check it out for yourself.

To help us meet this challenge we’ve enlisted the experience and expertise of Howard Ross, vice president and senior operations manager at United Bank.

Making Every User a Records Manager

Update: This webinar has been held! You can register to view a recording.

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No doubt you’ve heard these questions before, or perhaps even said them yourself. In this webinar, we’ll dive into this question to see if you can actually get rid of those paper records—whether digitizing is possible, practical, and preferred. Joining us to provide real-world insights and expertise will be Lisa McClurg of Cisco Systems.

More about our guest presenter:

As the Operations Manager on the Enterprise Records and Information Management team (“ERIM”), Lisa is primarily responsible for vendor account management covering 120 markets in 90+ countries, the global records inventory application, and Enterprises Record Retention Schedule. She works cross functionally with teams providing policy and process guidance on ILM (information lifecycle management) to reduce risk and provide them with best practices on policy and data management.

Any day she might engage with HR on proper storage of paper records in a country, work with a vendor on an SOW for a packing and scanning project, advise a business owner and their IT team on retention for the data in an application, or give a newly acquired company details on the ERIM policy and the proper management of their records.

She is a CIP (Certified Information Professional) and holds the CIPP/US and CIPM designations.

She and the other members of the ERIM team are working to enable Cisco to discover, value and take control of their information.

Note: This webinar has previously been held! Watch the recording HERE.

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Author: Brandon Tuley, JD, CIPP/E

Analyst / Licensed Attorney

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