Is it a surprise to anyone that corporations struggle to manage their unstructured data? We are not placing blame here; there really is none to go around. It is no one’s fault that unstructured data is growing as fast as it is, that it is also the most difficult to manage, or that IT has lacked the tools to make a meaningful dent in managing all that information.
As long as the trouble seemed limited to managing storage, then it was a problem the corporation was content to live with. No one was particularly concerned about what was contained within all of that digital storage, and over time even the original owners of this electronic content forgot about it or moved on. So IT made do with additional storage devices and long-term tape-based retention. But then the eDiscovery process blew up in corporate faces, and the problem of unstructured data management blew up right along with it. eDiscovery morphed from a cost-of-doing-business process – and a great way for outside law firms to make a lot of money – into a quagmire of missed deadlines, sanctions, and multi-million dollar review costs.
Then the financial meltdown came along to complete the disaster, turning the regulatory atmosphere from complacent to threatening. The first change threatened the General Counsel’s office (GC); the second change threatened the Governance, Risk, and Compliance officers (GRC). These groups are starting to look to IT to fix the problem, but IT cannot do it alone. What this difficult situation needs is a technology that cost-effectively manages enterprise-wide unstructured data, and then customizes data delivery and actions for specific business processes. Its primary driver is the eDiscovery process, but the common platform enables effective management for GRC and storage management as well. In this Technology in Brief, we will share our take on the promise of these platforms, and how StoredIQ is fulfilling that promise.
