The flipside of the digital 'transformation’ of modern business is the explosion of structured and unstructured data. As Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist was reported as saying:
"Between the dawn of civilization and 2003, we only created five exabytes; now we're creating that amount every two days. By 2020, that figure is predicted to sit at 53 zettabytes (53 trillion gigabytes) -- an increase of 50 times."
Technology news site EE Times expressed it graphically as above.
Businesses are holding on to more data than ever before. Mostly for functional use, but often also for the sake of mandated regulatory compliance (such as New Zealand’s Public Records Act) or improving customer experiences.
Structured and unstructured data in disparate folders spread across multiple repositories, littered with multiple versions and duplicate copies of the same documents puts pressure on storage space that is already at a premium.
The flood of data in everyday business – documents, emails, spreadsheets, presentations, images, audio, video and so on – is obscuring information that is actually relevant and assists decision makers.
As this chaos accumulates, the cost of increased storage space requirements is constantly rising while the value derived from all the data being stored diminishes.
The speed of business barely leaves any time for CIOs and Information Managers to take a breather and create a scalable system of reorganising and storing business data in a way that would allow decision makers to find relevant information with minimal effort and optimise storage utilisation.
A solution to this situation is improving your understanding of the types of data you have, where it lives and determining whether we even need it. Taking inventory of enterprise content is the first step in reducing cost and complexity and gaining control.
We call this concept getting your ‘docs’ in a row, and find it is a key step for enterprises wanting to prepare now for a future where data will continue to proliferate. The greater your clarity about the existing state of your stock of information, the better your ability to provide the business with effective access to meaningful information.
Download our eBook ‘GETTING YOUR ‘DOCS’ IN A ROW’ and read about the four steps to gaining clarity about your information assets.