In recent times everybody endlessly repeats that "cloud computing" is the future of information management, and therefore also of electronic documents and records management. Large multinationals with the largest market share in ECM applications also seem to have embraced the "cloud computing" as the driver of their future developments and services. Is the case of EMC, launching EMC on Demand or Alfresco presented their new version 4 with the slogan "the connected cloud platform".

When I read and heard the predictions for the future on this issue always thought they were a bit far from the reality of the document & records management projects in which I am currently working on. I could not imagine any of my clients making the decision to move their document & records management in the cloud, losing "control" of the servers where the information is stored. However, a conversation with John Newton of Alfresco at the event to launch their new version in Madrid, made me think about how and for what the cloud could be used in document & records management projects. I think nowadays, two different levels or approaches could be established :

• The first and most radical, perhaps in which I had always thought of as unique, offering document management platforms in the form SAS (software as service). In this case, the software is offered in servers in the cloud which are accessed through the network and organizational documents and records are filed on servers in the cloud by the organization providing the service. The undoubted advantages of reducing maintenance costs and the ability to access documents from anywhere (especially in organizations with circulating employees  or  working from their homes) are not sufficient to overcome the "fear" of not having control over the documents & records. This fear is strengthened by news like the closing of Megaupload and customers explaining in the media they have "lost" their files.

• The second would be using  the cloud as a replica of what the organizations have on their own servers. With an immediate synchronization service, organizations obtain some advantages that should not be neglected:

1. It would eliminate the tasks related to the "backup", since there would always be a copy of the document repository immediately in the cloud.
2. It would solve many problems of access to corporate documents & records from outside the organization, as employees with the adequate permissions could always work directly in the cloud when they are out of the office. As synchronization acts in both senses all the work done by these employees would be reflected immediately in the local repository. Furthermore, with tablets and smartphones applications (another trend predicted for the future) accessing documents & records in the cloud, it would have solved one of the limitations of these devices to be used as complete working tools.
3. It would provide opportunities to share documents with suppliers, customers or other stakeholders, which would proceed directly to the cloud, in a natural and logical evolution of "extranets" of organizations.

Actually, this second option without more sophistication than the file server, has been widely adopted by many professionals and small businesses, among which I am. In my case, I can share files with my collaborators in a natural way and calm me down from hardware failures, which we have had two important in the last nine months. At the same time the solution automatically runs the backup policy, freeing us from the related tasks. Following this way perhaps the cloud is the option to make available and affordable the document & records management features to any kind of organization.

It's hard to be updated from laws of other countries different from your own market, so my reflections here are based primarily on Spanish law, which at the same time needs to be harmonized with European Union directives, and has influenced many countries of Latin America.

As one of the last acts (the election was the 20th of November) of the Spanish previous government a Royal Decree of November 18th  on Spanish Systems of Archives was published. (Decreto 1708/2011, de 18 de noviembre, por el que se establece el Sistema Español de Archivos y se regula el Sistema de Archivos de la Administración General del Estado y de sus Organismos Públicos y su régimen de acceso). After reading it several times I cannot stop thinking about how difficult it is to legislate on records and archives in a dual reality, in a transition period between the paper and electronic world.

In countries like Spain, with an archival tradition of many years, an impressive legacy of historical documents and an organization of Archives, in which collections and organizational units guarding them aren’t easily distinguishable; the well-meaning attempt approach to legislate for the two realities may reveal some mismatches. Here are my views on some controversial issues:

1. In the paper records world, the records location and responsibilities on their custody are the basis on which to perform all record processes. It is logical, therefore, that until producers do not submit records to the appropriate site, under Spanish law any kind of Archive, can be considered records an Archives law do not apply. In the electronic world the paradigm need to be necessarily another, in the world of the "cloud" and changing “team-based” organizational structures try to apply the model based on the custody and transfer of documents constitutes a high risk of failure. Legislation that attempts to encompass both realities could create much confusion.
2. The establishment of the records lifecycle model by transfer of records between different types of Archives (office, central, intermediate, historical) works well to organize a huge mass of paper and to specialize functions and responsibilities for each type of Archive. But applied to electronic records can produce unnecessary complications and, worse at times of crisis, increase of investment in information technology need to simulate the different stages, without being very clear about the benefit.
3. Access to paper records in public Archives need to be regulated to ensure citizens rights. Principles are the same for electronic records, but the technology would allow more direct access (without failing in security) than paper records, which always require an intermediary agent. Where the law says that to exercise the access to records you have to submit an application, that will be studied and answered in each case, without specify different conditions to digital repositories, is ruling out the possibility of direct access to electronic records. For some professionals, including me, the possibility of direct access is the great advantage of technologies to promote a greater degree of transparency.

And finally, as a conclusion, to legislate is always difficult (I know by experience when I have been asked to help), but when scope cover an area in transition, even more difficult!