RIYADH, 23 November 2005 — Millions of e-mail messages and other electronic communications that flow through your company or organization in Saudi Arabia could be ticking time bombs. Do you know how to store e-documents and how to protect your organization or your clients from liability and exposure? Do you know how to ensure a full-proof electronic archiving, records management or for that matter content management?
These were the questions debated by a group of experts at a symposium entitled “e-Document Forum”, the largest regional event of its kind, organized by King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) here last night. “The two-day event, attended by some 1,100 delegates, sought to create a powerful meeting platform for senior government officials and decision makers, IT professionals and industry leaders”, said Hamad Al-Sadoon, KACST’s general director of information systems.
Al-Sadoon said that the symposium opened by Dr. Saleh Abdul Rahman Al-Athel, KACST’s president, offered “an ideal opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss best practices and networking, while finding solutions to many problems confronted by people in handling e-documents”.
The event has added significance keeping in view the fact that many recent cases in the US, Canada and Western nations, were either decided or solved on the basis of electronic documents.
“Hence, there is a greater need to collect, retain, preserve and properly destroy the documents”, said Abdulrahman Alhamidi, forum event manager, adding that the event discussed many topics including e-document imaging, workflow systems, records management, electronic portals and information lifecycle management.
Alhamidi said that companies and corporations need to implement an electronic document management system where e-data can be retrieved and produced in an effective and financially-efficient manner and format.
A large number of women IT experts and workers especially from hospitals also attended the event.