Editor's Letter: Survey Says...

DeAnne Toto

In conjunction with our upcoming January/February issue, Storage & Destruction Business magazine will release our 2012 State of the Records & Information Management Industry Report. The editorial staff of SDB hopes to build on the findings of our inaugural report, which we introduced this year.

As a reader of SDB, I encourage you to take a moment out of your busy schedule to respond to our survey, available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012SOI. Your candid responses to the survey questions, as well as the responses of your industry colleagues, will form the basis of our 2012 report. All responses will remain confidential.

As an incentive, each industry professional who responds to the survey before Oct. 31, 2011, will be entered into a drawing for a $250 Amazon.com gift card.

While the chance to win the gift card is a nice enticement, it's not the primary reason you should take the time to respond to the survey. Without your help, there will be no 2012 State of the Records & Information Management Industry Report. The report and the survey it is based on are designed to give us all a better understanding of how records and information management (RIM) firms—whether they focus on information destruction, records storage or related services—are faring in the current economy and the service areas that show the most promise for companies in the near term. The report also allows RIM companies to gauge their performance relative to the industry as a whole.

Respondents to the survey we conducted in late 2010 forecasted business growth in 2011, with a majority of respondents (35 percent) predicting 6 to 10 percent growth. Additionally, 22.6 percent of respondents said they anticipated 16 to 20 percent growth. Our current survey will allow us to see how these predictions panned out and what respondents expect the future to hold. We hope you are among those we hear from.

You already may have received an e-mail directing you to the survey. If you have taken the time to respond, I'd like to thank you for your time and frankness. If you have not yet responded, I hope you will reconsider and visit https://www.survey monkey.com/s/2012SOI.

If you did not receive an e-mail with the link to the survey and would like to participate, please visit the above address. I urge you to e-mail me with your contact information, as well, so we can be sure to include you on future e-mails regarding industry surveys.

The editorial staff of SDB intends to make the 2012 State of the Records & Information Management Industry Report worth your time and effort. But, to do that, we need to hear from you first.