Information governance is a trending topic in boardrooms across the globe. It’s a complex framework which allows organizations to control, protect, preserve and delete information in accordance with various compliance standards or best practices. It is often referred to as a super-discipline that incorporates record management, information security, eDiscovery, risk management, business intelligence and compliance.

This infographic provides an overview of the benefits of establishing information governance procedures, offers a glance at some important statistics and explores how information archiving can turn your business information from a liability to an asset.

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE ‒ MUCH MORE THAN A BUZZWORD

Information governance is an umbrella term that encompasses people, technology and processes that ensure proper handling and management of information within a company. Put in the simplest possible terms, IG is about the security, control and maximizing the value of business information. It is often referred to as a super-discipline that incorporates or is partially synonymous with record management, information security, eDiscovery, risk management, business intelligence, compliance etc.

IG policies and procedures help organizations to:

– improve the way electronically stored data is handled

– reduce organizational risk

– facilitate compliance

– increase transparency and

– decrease expenses of eDiscovery and litigation response.

We’re living in the age of Big Data, where 90% of all the data in the world has been generated over the last two years. It’s becoming clear that there are considerable downsides to this rapid accumulation of information. On the other hand, this massive amount of information has become valuable, and data is often referred to as “the new oil”.

INFORMATION IS A FRENEMY

Information governance should create balance between the two generally conflicting organizational notions:

Enterprise information is an asset, so decision-makers need to extract value from information.

However, information can easily become a liability, so they also need to reduce the potential risks associated with it. Both this business value and risks are often UNKNOWN or UNMANAGED.

WHY INFORMATION GOVERNANCE MATTERS

An average cost of a data breach $3.8m.

There are 14,000+ federal, state and industry laws, standards and regulations that dictate how long to keep records.

Corporate data has a 50-60% year-over-year growth rate.

Information governance technology can reduce the risk of data loss by 40%.

It is estimated that 136 trillion gigabytes of data will be created in 2025.

Adopting Information Governance practices can reduce legal risk by 62%

HOW DOES INFORMATION ARCHIVING FIT IN?

Information archiving technology is a crucial piece in the governance puzzle. An archiving solution will allow you to streamline information management, increase data security by limiting access to the archived information, ensure compliance and make your eDiscovery response faster and more efficient. Laws and regulations such as SOX, GLBA, HIPAA or FRCP are key factors that help to define corporate policies and improve information governance.

Insight obtained from your archived data will give you a clear picture of staff-associated risks, help you to understand the real value of your business information and allow you to govern it proactively across all your departments.