A survey of senior IT executives at 481 organizations in the US and UK on topics related to information governance has found that while almost all have a formal information governance program currently in place or are in the planning stages, only 40% of organizations are “high performers”.

In partnership with research firm Ipsos, Veritas surveyed a global cross section of IT, security, and legal professionals. It determined the high performers as those who demonstrate a keen focus on understanding the types of data they store and the relative importance of that data.

 “As organizations have embraced a ‘store-everything’ mentality, and low-value data has cluttered up terabytes – if not petabytes – of storage, they have found it increasingly difficult to find information when they need it and to effectively protect their sensitive information,” remarked Ben Gibson, Veritas Chief Marketing Officer.

“For these reasons, and in the face of a rapidly changing and incredibly complex regulatory environment, managing risk is the number-one reason why organizations are investing in information governance programs.”

The study reveals that once organizations decide to invest in information governance, they have a wide variety of different approaches at their disposal. Out of 18 surveyed tools (ranging from archiving to eDiscovery, file analysis, and more) and 14 tactics (including policy creation, chargebacks, and training), all received above a 60% adoption rate.

Of all these tools and tactics, several consistently demonstrated high levels of adoption across all organizations. In terms of tools, 87% of surveyed participants adopted file archiving and 86% adopted email archiving, technologies originally developed to help organizations optimize storage for growing data volumes.

From a tactics standpoint, 88% of the organizations issue formal data-use policies, and 84% train employees on information governance practices, yet both of these tactics require end-user compliance and effort instead of automation, making adherence more challenging in a world where data is growing 39% year-over-year.

Considering the widespread adoption of information governance tools and tactics, the survey population was divided into two segments based on the overall effectiveness of each organization’s Information Governance program and evaluated further. Interestingly, the analysis revealed considerable differences between the tools and tactics adopted by Low Performers (~60% of the population) and High Performers (~40% of the population).

High Performers Know the Value of Their Data

High Performers demonstrate a keen focus on understanding the types of data they store and the relative importance of that data. The study shows that 72% of high performers conduct file-type assessments to prevent the build-up of non-mission critical files, whereas only 29% of Low Performers use this technique. Similarly, 66% of High Performers measure what percentage of their data is ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, and Trivial), while only 23% of Low Performers measure their ROT. Additionally, 62% of High Performers assign risk scores to the data they store, but only 29% of Low Performers follow this practice.

High Performers were 39% better at deleting no-value data and 38% better at determining the value of an individual piece of data than Low Performers. Overall, High Performers are 36% better than Low Performers at controlling data growth.

Both High Performers and Low Performers identified risk mitigation as the number one priority for investing in an Information Governance program. That said, High Performers are 22% better at mitigating risk than Low Performers and are significantly better at protecting their organization from potential productivity and financial losses directly attributable to information growth.

“Information governance is a fast-growing priority for most organisations around the globe,” commented Sean Pike, program director, Next-Generation Data Security and eDiscovery & Information Governance, IDC.

View the full report here.