What the New Year means for organizing your old data

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

Statisticbrain.com lists the top three New Year’s resolutions people make in the order of most popular first as: lose weight; self-improvement; and better financial decisions. As a CIO, CFO, or a CEO the smart organizing of old data into an archiving system will slim down your active primary storage needs, improve your business’ data performance, which in turn will grow your bottom line… Really, it will.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Each organization, great or small, has data retention and storage needs for regulatory compliance, legal retention requirements and historic value, but that data is rarely accessed. While estimates vary of just how much rarely accessed or unused data is rammed onto and forgotten on hard drives that house an organization’s active and primary transactions, all IT professionals agree that this unseen data accumulation has a measurable cost.

Unless you have already implemented archival storage efficiencies, you are likely watching your IT costs increase annually just to cover the work hours needed to maintain IT infrastructure and confirm data integrity; rising energy costs to power drives and keep them cool; and expand active storage capacity. If rarely accessed old data is not identified and placed in archival storage, internal and external users will be forced to waste time loading and then sifting through currently relevant data mixed in with data that is not, slowing productivity and trying the patience of potential customers.

Transitioning old and rarely accessed data to archive storage will keep your organization compliant with regulatory and legal requirements while at the same time keeping the costs of storage capacity and man hours in check. Without old data clogging search results, staff can more efficiently monitor operations and report out on results, while outside users, customers and suppliers can conduct their transactions efficiently.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

We understand that organizing old data is about as sexy a subject as organizing your flatware drawer, but if you find improving your firm’s performance speed, creating cost saving efficiencies, and keeping more dollars in the profit column an attractive pursuit, then this task is a must.

To achieve success you will need to design a storage strategy that supports your business model and fulfills legal and regulatory obligations, and then choose the right technology to meet those requirements. We can provide your organization with the knowhow and experience to make the right decisions to fit your industry and your organization’s unique needs.

Do not be fooled. Backup data storage, a must to avoid disaster, is not the same as archiving old, rarely accessed data. Backup storage works much like active storage in that it is constantly being updated with the latest in-use data in order to be made available in the event of an emergency.

Data management, if properly done, should send old data to an archive storage drive and exclude it from backup storage. Unlike active (primary) and backup storage systems, archive storage systems optimize capacity over delivery and access speed.

Broadly speaking there are two types of archive storage systems: deep archive and active archive. A deep archive system is built to last for decades, utilizing technologies that will be able to interface with technologies of the future. A deep archive is suited for data that must be kept, but that is rarely if all, accessed. An active archive system is best suited for data that may be read frequently, but rarely, if ever, modified.

Learn more about archiving your old data and setting the conditions for fast, efficient, data storage and delivery, and improving your bottom line!  Contact us! See how our experienced specialists at Global IP Networks can support your organization’s future success.