Sometimes the marriage of Information Technology and Information Governance seems like an arranged one, where two parties go kicking and screaming to the altar to satisfy traditional rules. Other times, it can be a true partnership that is equally rewarding to both and ultimately to the business. The fact remains -collaboration is necessary and inevitable with new governance trends having a great impact on IT. What were once isolated and occasional requests on IT to recover or discover data, now need to be a fully integrated part of an overall plan to support the business and derive the most value from information.
The proliferation of BYOD, USB/thumb drives and other endpoint data “at the Edge” is a big contributor to the data growth problem and it’s a compliance nightmare. Some companies don’t separate sensitive data like SSNs or credit card information from regular data. When one thing is hacked, it all goes. Another problem is that companies “keep everything forever.” This strategy has become a default for many because it is difficult to figure out what data has relevance to the business and what does not. Strategies like this not only drive up storage costs, but can be a smoking gun for companies who don’t know what’s in that data. Last, security and compliance policies for many organizations, while often well founded, are delegated to employees to perform manually instead of automated enforcement through technology.
So what can you about these challenges? They say good communication is the key to a successful marriage. But let’s be honest, some conversations are just tough to have. A great journey starts with a single step though, and you too can get the conversation started to extract business value with speed and scale in the face of the 21st century enterprise.
Some considerations for opening the lines of communication:
By thinking cross-functionally through some of these issues, you’ll be able to start to cross the line from rocky romance to wedded bliss when it comes to a holistic information management strategy. No one wants to become the next headline or poster child for data management missteps.
About the author: Emily Wojcik is Senior Product Marketing Manager for the Information Management business at CommVault (News - Alert). Emily has specialized in Information Management technologies for more than 13 years and has developed significant experience in the areas of archiving, compliance, eDiscovery, enterprise search and retention lifecycle management.