What is information governance?
Information governance (IG) is a structured framework of policies, processes, and technologies that organizations use to manage, protect, retain, and utilize information throughout its lifecycle — while meeting regulatory, security, and business requirements.
Organizations use information governance to oversee:
- Email and chat communications
- Documents, contracts, and collaboration content
- Financial and operational records
- Customer and employee data
While information governance applies across all industries, it is especially critical in regulated environments where records must be accurate, accessible, and defensible.
Key regulatory foundations vary by industry and may include financial services regulations such as SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 4511, along with global and regional privacy and records laws like GDPR, HIPAA, and other industry-specific mandates.
Why information governance matters
Effective information governance helps organizations:
- Ensure compliance with regulatory and industry standards
- Protect confidential and sensitive information
- Improve decision-making and business efficiency
- Maintain audit readiness and legal defensibility
- Avoid data breaches, fines, and reputational damage
Financial services regulatory framework
In financial services, information governance is shaped by some of the most prescriptive regulatory expectations, making it a useful reference point for understanding governance maturity.
SEC, FINRA, and industry requirements
Financial services organizations must comply with rules governing record integrity, supervision, and auditability, including:
- SEC and FINRA rules governing retention and supervision of records
- Retention schedules, access controls, and complete, auditable books and records
- Industry best practices for secure handling of sensitive financial data
Electronic records and data management
Regulatory expectations for electronic records often include:
- Immutable, tamper-evident storage to prevent alteration or deletion of records
- Metadata, indexing, and advanced search to ensure timely accessibility
- Audit trails and executive oversight to validate compliance controls
Outsourcing and third-party providers
When organizations rely on third-party vendors, governance expectations may include:
- Vendor due diligence and accountability to regulatory standards
- Data security, access, continuity, and operational resilience
- Expectations set by FINRA Regulatory Notice 21-29 on vendor supervision
Information governance across industries
Information governance principles are critical across all regulated sectors. Explore how to manage your data footprint:
- Healthcare: Ensure HIPAA-compliant document handling and secure patient data management
- Government: Streamline FOIA request fulfillment and long-term public records retention
- Legal: Improve e-discovery readiness and simplify complex litigation response
- Corporate Enterprise: Strengthen cybersecurity and data retention schedules for operational efficiency
Common challenges and risks
Organizations often struggle with:
- Rapidly growing volumes of structured and unstructured data
- Legacy infrastructure that cannot support modern communication technologies or evolving regulatory requirements
- Balancing accessibility with security and privacy obligations
- Preventing or detecting off-channel communications and “shadow AI”
- Managing non-compliance risk, regulatory scrutiny, and enforcement actions
Best practices for information governance
To improve governance maturity:
- Establish a defined information governance framework and documented retention schedules
- Deploy tamper-proof archiving and secure data controls
- Conduct periodic audits of communication and records systems
- Train employees on approved channels and secure data handling
- Align compliance, IT, and legal teams on governance oversight
Quick compliance checklist:
☐ Do we know where all regulated data and business communications live?
☐ Can we quickly produce records for audits, investigations, or litigation?
☐ Are retention policies enforced automatically and consistently?
☐ Do we supervise and secure all communication channels used for business?
How Smarsh supports information governance
Smarsh provides a unified platform to manage communications data from capture through discovery. Designed for highly regulated industries, our solution ensures:
- Multi-Channel Governance: Unified oversight for 100+ channels, including Teams, WhatsApp, and voice.
- Regulatory Integrity: Immutable, WORM-compliant storage that meets SEC and FINRA standards.
- Operational Efficiency: Centralized supervision and search to eliminate data silos and reduce risk.
- Audit Readiness: Defensible record production with complete audit trails and secure access.
Strengthen your information governance with the Smarsh Platform