From paper to AI: A records manager's journey through decades of digital transformation

When Juliet Hart started her records management career, people were, quite literally, smoking while opening the mail. Fast-forward a few decades, and she's now helping organizations navigate AI governance — a transformation few have witnessed as intimately as the rolks in information management.

Having worked on both sides of the fence — as a government practitioner and on the vendor side of things, Juliet brings a uniquely valuable perspective to modern information management challenges.

Her journey reveals something crucial: the organizations best positioned for AI success aren't necessarily those with the most advanced technology, but those with the strongest records management foundations.

The evolution from compliance to enablement

"The more modern offerings are a bit more intuitive and more appy, which makes our users happy," Juliet explains. "Appy is happy." But this shift to 'appiness' isn't just about user experience — it's also about fundamentally changing how compliance works in organizations.

Traditional systems required people to step outside their normal workflows to manage records properly. With this setup, an engineer working on infrastructure had to become a part-time records manager, learning separate systems and processes and chasing their compliance tasks. Modern platforms flip this model entirely: compliance comes to the user rather than the user seeking out compliance tasks.

This evolution matters because when people don't have to leave their familiar systems to maintain good records, they actually do it consistently. And of course, consistent, quality record-keeping creates something invaluable: a clean, well-organized data estate.

Why good records management is AI's best friend

As AI governance becomes a business priority, Juliet sees organizations scrambling to understand what data they have and where it lives. But for those with strong records management foundations, this isn't a scramble, it's a strategic advantage.

"AI governance provides a really great opportunity for information, data, privacy, and cybersecurity custodians across the organisation to understand the information that organizations are holding," she notes. "Understanding what information you've got allows us to practice good AI governance before we get there."

Think of it this way: if your organization has always maintained proper data classification and proactive information management, you're not starting from scratch when you want to deploy AI. You already know what data is sensitive, what's proprietary, and what's safe to use in training models. You can "put a ring around" the information that shouldn't be shared while confidently opening up clean, appropriate datasets for AI initiatives.

Organizations without this foundation face a much harder path. They're stuck "opening cupboards and shining lights" into data estates filled with duplicates, convenience copies, and information scattered across silos — what Juliet calls the challenge of determining "what is the actual source of truth."

The platform evolution: from closed to configurable

Juliet's experience on both the vendor and practitioner sides gives her insight into what actually works in real-world implementations — she's seen the gap between what platforms promise and what organizations need.

"There still seems to be a big tether to traditional systems, but a recognition that traditional systems are not meeting the current work practices," she observes from her recent return to government work. The solution isn't abandoning proven compliance capabilities, but extending them into modern work environments.

This is where platform choice becomes critical. Some solutions work like a closed ecosystem — they do what they do well, but with limited customization. Others, like RecordPoint, take what Juliet calls an "Android phone" approach: they work reliably out of the box but allow organizations to fine-tune settings, integrate with diverse data landscapes, and scale according to their specific needs.

"If you want to really have that scale up, customization, and ability to get right into the nitty gritty... you can do it, which makes it your software," she says.

The compound effect of good information management

Juliet's perspective is particularly valuable because of her front-row seat to how information management challenges compound over time.

She's watched privacy concerns evolve from information held in locked compactus units to complex cybersecurity and individual rights issues. She's seen records managers expand from compliance specialists to privacy-qualified, AI governance-qualified professionals working across multiple departments.

This evolution shows why strong records management foundations matter so much. When organizations get the basics right — proper classification, proactive management, enterprise-wide visibility — they're not just solving today's compliance requirements. They're building the infrastructure that makes future innovations possible.

For AI specifically, this means being able to confidently answer questions like: What training data can we safely use? Where is our sensitive information? How do we ensure our models aren't learning from duplicate or outdated information? Organizations with mature information management practices already have these answers.

Looking forward

As AI continues to reshape how we work, the organizations that thrive will be those that understand the connection between good foundational practices and advanced capabilities. It's not about having the most cutting-edge AI tools — it's about having the information infrastructure that lets you use those tools safely and effectively.

Juliet's journey from paper-based filing to AI governance illustrates this perfectly. The core principles haven't changed: know what information you have, classify it appropriately, make it accessible to those who need it, and protect what should be protected. What's changed is the scale, complexity, and strategic importance of getting these fundamentals right.

In an AI-powered future, the best records management won't be invisible — it will be the competitive advantage that makes everything else possible.