Eddie Sheehy CEO Nuix

Organizations across the globe have little insight into the true cost or value of their unstructured data, according to research by Barclay T. Blair of ViaLumina and published by Nuix, a worldwide provider of information management software. This lack of insight is becoming a critical risk as information volumes grow uncontrollably, regulatory pressures increase and the insights gained from Big Data separate winners and losers in the global economy.

The paper, "The Total Cost of Owning Unstructured Information: Decoding Information Governance, Big Data & E-Discovery," advances a comprehensive new model for calculating information cost and value. The report challenges the widely held notion that organizations should keep all information forever because: storage is cheap; courts or regulators will penalize them for deleting information; or they will be able to extract value from the information at some uncertain future.

"We are creating information faster than we are inventing ways to effectively manage it," said Blair. "This creates enormous complexity and risk, while making it extremely difficult to generate value from information. Our paper is designed to help organizations close this gap with practical methods to improve their information governance."

Blair’s research examines hidden costs such the loss of business opportunities when enterprises cannot easily find and use their own information. It reveals how the true costs are spread across all areas of a business and how organizations do not realistically evaluate data-related risks such as the massive expense and disruption of eDiscovery.

The paper also advances intriguing ideas such as:

• The Information Calorie.
  How organizations can foster changes in employee behavior that reduce information hoarding and mismanagement.
• Information Cap and Trade. 
  Calculating and allocating information costs in a way that creates economic incentives for better information management and governance.
• Full Cost Accounting for Information.
  Borrowing an economic model from waste management to reveal the true costs of information mismanagement.

"By 2015, if not before, the growing costs and risks will have forced most large organizations to change the way they approach retaining, valuing and disposing of their data," said Eddie Sheehy, CEO of Nuix. "Barclay Blair’s report has delivered innovative ideas and practical frameworks that will progress the way information governance vendors and practitioners think and work for many years to come."

ViaLumina is a specialized professional services practice offering Information Governance consulting services. We help our clients maximize the value of information and comply with legal requirements for its management. ViaLumina accomplishes this by providing a range of Records and Information Management (RIM), compliance, assessment, implementation, training and other professional services.            

Nuix is a worldwide provider of information management technologies, including eDiscovery, electronic investigation and information governance software. Nuix customers include the world’s leading advisory firms, litigation support providers, enterprises, government departments, law enforcement agencies, and all of the world's major corporate regulatory bodies.