Η Veritas Technologies LLC, a backup and recovery solution company, announced the results of Databerg Report 2015, which examines how European public and private organizations manage their data.
Among the important issues that research demonstrates is the way employees face corporate IT infrastructure and over-dependence of corporate management from storage infrastructures in cloud environments. Such issues raise thoughts as to how much they should be subject to regulatory changes, and they also create higher risks of data loss.
According to its 2015 Databerg Report Veritas, 59% of data stored and processed by UK organizations is invisible and could contain everything from cat videos to adult material, creating an increased risk of non-compliance with existing regulations.
The report also estimates that a medium-sized British organization maintains approximately 1.000 Terabytes of information, spending annually about 602 thousand (435 thousand pounds) for ROT data (ROT = Redundant, Obsolete or Trivial), or a word for useless data. This means that only 12% of the cost of data storage is spent on critical (and useful) data in the UK.
The number is one of the lowest performance of clean data in the entire survey.
"While computerized data should serve the purposes of any organization, it is clear that in Great Britain the opposite is true. The main conclusions of the Databerg Report 2015 reflect the fact that the businesses are investing a significant portion of their resources in maintaining data that is completely unrelated to their operations," said Matthew Ellard, Senior Vice President EMEA of Veritas.
"The survey reveals that one in three companies in the UK stores redundant, obsolete and insignificant (ROT) data in its corporate networks. A typical medium-sized company with 500 Terabytes of data wastes almost 1,4 million euros (1 XNUMX million) every year to store junk files such as photos, personal documents of employees, music and videos.
The survey provides information on how the 1.475 respondents in 14 countries, across the region of EMEA (including 200 people in the UK) relate to the challenges of turning data into truly valuable business information. The report introduces a new phenomenon called the Databerg, consisting of three main types of data stored by organizations today:
- Business Critical Data: It is data that is recognized as vital to the operation and success of an evolving organization. Business Critical Data must be proactively managed protectionand their management is done in real time by professionals with clearly defined responsibilities by the management of the organization.
- ROT Data: Data identified as unnecessary, obsolete or insignificant. ROT Data must be proactively minimized and safely deleted on a regular basis.
- Dark Data: Data whose value is not valued. They may include critical business data, useless data, or, most importantly, illegal and non-compliant data, thus assigning the heart of corporate IT systems with indefinite responsibilities.
The survey found that a typical British organization reported Dark Data rates of 59%, ROT Data 54%, and only 29% (MN EMEA: 32%), recognized critical business data (EMEA: 12%). This is equivalent to a waste of corporate resources of up to 14 billion (798 billion pounds) 576, to store wasteful data if companies do not change strategy and tactics in information management.
As organizations move more cloud data to cope with rapid data volume scaling, cloud storage and cloud processing needs will increase by at least one-third (from 33% to 45%) throughout the EMEA region, over the next year, as the survey reveals. In the UK, only 43% of respondents said they would use cloud infrastructure up to 2016, lower than the European average. In any case, there is a risk that organizations that adopt such cloud services do not have the appropriate policies to calculate additional costs such as switch to another provider or release from the cloud service in an emergency.
What does Databerg create?
The research revealed three main reasons for the development of a Databerg (data iceberg). These relate to how data volumes disproportionately affect IT strategy, how providers promote "free" limited-time storage practices, and how employees compromise corporate data through misguided actions. These reasons can be summarized in the following three points:
1. IT Strategies based on volume data management rather than business value.
2. Increasing reliance on "free" storage practices, such as cloud platforms.
3. Increasing indifference by employees for corporate data management policies.
According to the research, these factors are the main reasons for the existence of Dark and ROT Data, because they usually do not allow the corporate management to have direct supervision of the machinesgraphics resources. This also involves legal risks, which are not obvious at the outset.
Recommendations from the Databerg Report
The research suggests some measures that can be taken by organizations to gain valuable insight into their information and reduce the associated risks:
• Identifying Dark Data with risks and highlighting critical information.
• Immediate elimination of ROT Data, to reduce waste.
• Establishing applicable governance strategies for unstructured data and encouraging the adoption of behavioral behaviors that are compatible with corporate policy.
• Increased flexibility by using data storage in cloud environments.
The Databerg Report 2015
The Veritas Databerg 2015 survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne between July and September 2015. Results are based on 1.475 respondents in 14 countries. Respondents include senior IT executives who have focused on strategic planning and operating practices for businesses and organizations.
For additional information about the Veritas Databerg Report 2015, please visit http://info.veritas.com/databerg_report
