eGUIDE: 10 Obstacles to Simplified Information Governance

Information governance is a complex endeavor. Practitioners identify over 20 different facets of information governance, including compliance, ediscovery, security and information management.1 While they may be effective, legacy approaches to addressing these needs are wholly inefficient. And they are made even more so by the velocity, variety and volume of today’s data.

It’s time IT organizations reassess how they approach information governance to achieve greater efficiency and efficacy.

Here are 10 factors contributing to the complexity of information governance and how IT organizations can address them.

1 Information Governance Initiative Annual Report 2015-2016, Information Governance Initiative.

Data today lives in many places and in many forms. Email, line-of-business applications, file shares and SaaS applications – they all have their own data silos which are independently managed, protected and governed. These silos create additional complexity as well as costs and compliance risk.

TIP:

Bring diverse silos together to manage disparate data in a common way.

1: Data Silos

Technology providers have been good about addressing specific pieces of information governance, causing IT organizations to implement multiple point solutions. Unfortunately, this tactical approach only solves parts of the problem – not the whole problem. And a lack of coordination between tools results in a complicated and, oftentimes, conflicting framework.

TIP:

Approach information governance strategically, and choose a unified solution.

2: Tactical Approach

Regulatory compliance is a moving target: requirements change frequently, and new laws and regulations are continually being passed. Unfortunately, many toolsets are static, leaving IT organizations to manually implement controls and policies to address requirements.

TIP:

Look for a software solution that adapts to new regulations and requirements.

3: Static Toolsets

The business wants to keep all data, and IT wants to keep it secure. As a result, data is stored in production environments where IT has good controls around access and usage. But as data accumulates, costs increase and it becomes difficult to understand old data. The classification process is time consuming and complicated, so IT doesn’t know what data should be archived and what can be purged.

TIP:

Look for a solution that gives IT the ability to set policies so that data is automatically moved out of production when it’s no longer needed.

4: All Data is Production Data

Many IT organizations know very little about the data they have, such as who owns it, who uses it, its age, and whether it’s subject to governance. Without this knowledge, IT is hard-pressed to make decisions about what data to keep, how to protect it and for what length of time, which means greater compliance and security risk.

TIP:

Data analytics and visualization toolsets built into software can help you understand your data profile as a first step in establishing the right policies for data.

5: Lack of Visibility

Many vendors are quick to sell a piece of software and move on to their next customer, leaving each organization to figure out how to develop policies in accordance with data sovereignty issues, changing laws and regulations, and business requirements. But IT organizations need more than technology; they need a provider who can also serve as a consultative partner who can help them develop policies to ensure they are keeping the right data, and reducing costs and risk.

TIP:

Look for a technology provider who engages with you as a strategic partner in achieving information governance.

6: Vendors Sell Software

With data increasingly being stored outside the corporate data center, geolocation is a growing concern. Organizations must ensure that they are abiding by data sovereignty restrictions and properly protecting the data they collect. Unfortunately, many solutions fail to provide the visibility needed to validate where and how data is stored, leaving organizations and auditors with the manual task of validating data sovereignty.

TIP:

Choose a solution with reporting and audit trail capabilities that validate that data is stored in the proper location.

7: Poor Reporting & Audit Capabilities

Many solutions implemented for the purposes of information governance require people to change how they work. IT must spend time and money training end users, only to hope for the best because adoption is rarely 100%. Some users ignore changes altogether while others adopt them right up until they get busy and slip into old habits.

TIP:

Look for a solution that doesn’t require users to change their behavior or how data is accessed.

8: User Behavior

When it comes to managing and recovering data, many solutions still put the onus on IT. Any data request requires a help desk ticket and the assistance of the resource-strapped IT department. In the meantime, productivity suffers as business users wait for help.

TIP:

Look for a solution with self-service capabilities to take the onus off of IT.

9: The Onus is on IT

Nobody wants to get rid of anything for fear that it might be worth something to someone. But let’s face it: not all data is created equal, and keeping everything increases the organization’s liability.

TIP:

Choose a solution that gives you the confidence to keep the right data, for the right reasons, for the right length of time – and get rid of everything else.

10: Data Hoarding

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The solutions most IT organizations use to govern data are not designed for the

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Read the three critical areas you need to address to truly unlock the benefits of

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