Duplicate Info Aggravating "Information Mayhem" In Indian Businesses

Symantec Corp has announced that more than a third (38 percent) of business information in Indian organisations is duplicate, contributing to one of the top challenges associated with information management, according to the India results of the second chapter of Symantec’s State of Information Survey – Information Mayhem.

“As our appetite for information grows, our ability to intelligently manage it must keep pace,” says Anand Naik, managing director, sales, Symantec in India. “The vortex of information challenges means that 78 percent of companies have missed compliance requirements in the past year. Information governance, and identifying ways to help IT focus their efforts on the information that actually matters, holds the key to fixing these issues.”

Organisations Lack Information Understanding

More than 39 percent of organisations aren’t aware of the level of importance to the business of the information they are storing, or even if it’s business or personal information. More than 43 percent don’t know how old information is and 40 percent don’t know who owns it. This lack of information understanding is resulting in businesses spending more than necessary on storage – globally 60 percent of enterprises spend more than $100,000 per year on their storage infrastructure. And the complexity is significantly reducing productivity.

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Information Is Out Of Control

The study reveals that Indian businesses are facing huge challenges when trying to manage their information with two thirds (66 percent) saying that there was no ‘single version of truth’ when it came to information: having multiple versions of identical files. In addition, 63 percent of information is hard to find, further contributing to the sea of information that is challenging businesses today.

Information Governance Can Help

The key for organisations to overcome the challenges they are facing in this avalanche of information is to develop an effective information governance program, designed to provide top-down support for the intelligent maintenance of the company’s data requirements. Information governance is the application of technology, policies and process to mitigate information from being a liability.

Recommendations

Establish the C-level owner of information governance: Build an information-responsible culture and create an umbrella of information governance to capture synergies across focused projects.

• Govern information to achieve business goals and overcome challenges.

• Take a broader perspective of information governance and work outside of silos. New information technology is accelerating the need for this.

• Information governance should be high on the organisation’s list of priorities.

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Concentrate on focused projects:** eDiscovery, compliance, archiving and DLP have a history of ROI and ability to get budget.

• Dedupe now, in backups and archive.

• Include security (in addition to retention and eDiscovery).

Manage information according to its importance to your business:

• Classify information.