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Electronic records management in Small and Medium Enterprises is a relatively new research area. It is difficult to find much on the SME and electronic record management in academic databases. In public organizations and in large enterprises the management of electronic records is now acknowledged as important for business support. Efficient records management is e.g. necessary for fulfilling requirements found in various legislation such as e.g. the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). The requirements for documentation in the ISO 9000, and the ISO 14000 series can be fulfilled if standards for records management are used.

This paper aims to contribute further knowledge on the quality of records management in SMEs. The following research question has guided this research: How well do SMEs meet minimum ISO 15489 requirements for records management?

The research has been carried out within a EU funded research program, where 4 SMEs from both Sweden and Finland have been studied using a qualitative research approach. The data have been collected from four SMEs through interviews. The analytical lens used in this research has been the international standard for Information and Documentation - Record Management: ISO 15489.

The results show that electronic records are managed in a rather ad-hoc manner and that management is very dependent upon individuals, many of whom have little, if any, expertise or training in this area and no access to expert advice. One of the identified business values of well-managed electronic records is that the SME gains the opportunity to manage and benefit from their explicit knowledge and experience.

This research shows that there are major obstacles to overcome before SMEs are able to fully adopt best practice in electronic records management. Many of these hindrances have their roots in a lack of appropriate strategies for records appraisal and that the SMEs have not followed the steps recommended in the ISO 15489 standard.