Digital Preservation
Digital materials, including business records, become inaccessible if kept for long periods, unless positive action is taken to preserve them. This is known as the 'digital preservation' problem - sometimes referred to as 'sustainability'. The problem arises for two reasons:
Over long periods, electronic information recorded on any medium degrades, resulting in information loss. This happens because of chemical and physical changes in storage media. While the rate of degradation can be limited it can never be eliminated. Techniques are however available to overcome this problem.
In the shorter term, as technology evolves existing systems and storage become obsolete. This manifests itself in both physical storage and software. While the physical storage problem is easily addressed, software evolution is more complex, because it is multi-layered and includes elements such as file formats, application formats, drivers, databases and operating systems. Record-keeping systems are particularly affected as they store large numbers of electronic objects collected over long periods and so are composed of many format combinations.
Despite considerable efforts to overcome the issue of technology obsolescence there is no generally accepted solution. Serco Consulting however, takes a different approach. Our consultants work to solve the specific problems faced by each individual organisation. We are one of the few consultancies that combines a sound understanding of the theoretical issues with a track record of supporting clients as they work towards achievable, pragmatic solutions. Our consultants develop successful digital preservation strategies based on analysis of an organisation's holdings, its requirements and other esoteric factors.