Are You in Dark When It Comes to Your Data?

This article was written by Adrian Knapp, CEO and founder, Aparavi Software Corporation.

Are You in the Dark When it Comes to Your Data?

Companies are churning out more data than ever, in fact, according to the IDC, people now create and generate over 1.8ZB of data per year. Many are unaware that their hidden data is costing them millions and putting them at greater risk for cybersecurity threats.

According to Mike Gualieri, VP and principal analyst of Forrester, “the unfortunate truth has been that the potential of most data lies dormant. Between 60% and 73% of all data within an enterprise goes unused for analytics.”

The more unaccounted-for data a company has, the higher the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack. When you are in the dark about your data, you don’t know what has gone missing.

Redundant, obsolete, and trivial data, otherwise known as ROT data and dark data, monopolize space on company’s servers, and slow down processing. Many are unaware that not having a purpose for your data could be costing your company millions of dollars.

How do we define ROT and dark data?
Hoarding data is a natural response. We aren’t sure what we are supposed to do with the data-creating ROT and dark data.

Redundancies are one of the core issues of our growing data problem; we have fallen into the habit of saving multiple copies of the same set of data. Redundancies usually happen when there is a lack of integration between departments, creating data silos that get lost.

Outdated data has lost purpose and is no longer accurate because of the passing of time. Some examples of this are holding onto data files from former clients and holding onto survey questions that no longer apply, leading data to become trivial.

Trivial data is purposeless data and takes up valuable space on servers, and slows down processing. This type of data typically is accumulated from the day-to-day tasks and tends to linger in folders or working files, even after an employee leaves. Unlike the kinds of data mentioned above, dark data can be of value to your company.

Data is considered “dark” when you do not have a strategic purpose for it. Seeing the importance of deleting ROT while utilizing dark data to serve a purpose helps bring value to your company.

What are hidden costs of ROT and dark data?
One of the other challenges companies face regarding ROT and dark data is storage. While the cloud might seem like a cost-effective solution, since you are paying very little per gigabyte-redundancies and outdated data quickly drive up monthly storage fees. Companies buy disk after disk to support data growth, but come 5 years from now, you run out of space and accumulate an abundance of disks.

When you aren’t aware of what data you have and where it is located, your company is also at a higher risk of a data breach. Some of that data may be stored outside of secure file systems that hacker groups can easily target when you have unaccounted-for data. This especially happens when employees make copies of files to take their laptops home, or lose equipment by accident. Sometimes it only takes a file shared between servers containing confidential information, leading to costly settlements in court. When an organization manages its data, another expensive mistake that is avoidable is the payment of compliance fines due to a consumer’s data being compromised during a data breach.

Employees are slowed down by sifting through old, redundant, and trivial data, which means valuable time is lost that expends company resources. A survey from Wakefield Research and Elastic revealed that 54% of US office professionals report wasting time searching for much-needed files in cluttered online filling systems. Having a lot of ROT data to sift through also increases the chance of employee error in sending outdated information to clients, which leads to lost company time trying to fix the mistake. When productivity is reduced, resources are wasted.

Solution?
Companies can cut costs by shedding light on their data-identifying redundant files, obsolete files, and trash data. Leaving data in the dark means missed opportunities that could have led to higher revenue. Companies can take control of their data through intelligent data management platforms that help delete ROT and sort dark data. These platforms help analyze unstructured data and shed light on what should be kept, deleted, or sorted. When you take control of your data, you deliver value and safety to your organization.