Organisations of all sizes and across industries are drowning in data. They are unable to effectively mine their data archives for key insights that could ultimately improve business outcomes. This is according to the results of a study, “Mining for Insight: Rediscovering the Data Archive,” an IDC white paper, published by the paperwork and data management contract firm Iron Mountain. The firms say that the findings also indicate that a subset of organisations are in fact successfully using their data archives and the benefits are in revenue from streamlined IT and customer service operations.
The research suggests that organisations with a well-defined data archive process stand to realise value from two potential avenues: cost savings and added revenue from monetising archives. On the savings front, more than half of the organisations polled realised $1M (£640,000) or more in savings over the past year from risk mitigation and avoidance of litigation, with the top 21 per cent reporting savings of more than $10M (£6.4M). Similarly, 44 per cent of organisations reaped $1m (£640,000) or more in savings stemming from reduced operational or capital costs, with the top 18 per cent capturing more than $10m (£6.4m).
More striking is an organisation’s ability to draw new revenue from an effectively managed data archive. While 39 per cent of companies surveyed benefitted from an additional $1m (£640,000) or more in revenue, the top 15 gained more than $10m (£6.4m). On average, companies polled saw an additional $7.5m (£4.8m) in new revenue streams from their data archive.
Despite leaving money on the table, most organisations – 76 per cent – believe they are already maximising the value of their archives, making data archiving a real blind spot for business leaders. With only 38 per cent of companies using archives for business analysis, a critical process to drive additional revenue by better understanding markets, improving products and service delivery and better serving customers, it’s clear that the majority of respondents are not truly leveraging the power of their archive.
Of the 24 per cent of businesses that acknowledge they could be leveraging their archives more effectively, nearly three quarters believe they could be extracting two times or more value than they realise today, with more than a quarter believing they could gain five times or more value.
Eileen Sweeney, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Data Management, at Iron Mountain says; “Data archiving isn’t just about meeting legal and compliance requirements anymore. The research shows that there are real financial benefits to be realised by implementing an effective data archiving strategy. To truly leverage the power of enterprise information, organisations must first take a hard look at their data management program. Even organisations with advanced archiving processes can stand to gain cost savings and additional revenue streams.”
Sean Pike, Program Director, eDiscovery and Information Governance Research, IDC adds; “There’s a real disconnect between the value people think they’re currently realising from their archives and the potential additional revenue they could stand to gain by simply managing their data more effectively. However, organisations of all sizes and across all industries can expect to see an uptick in revenue and cost savings by revisiting their archives to fulfil business objectives. This is especially critical in today’s information-driven economy, where the key to success or failure comes down to how effectively businesses can manage data and how quickly they can act on that information.”
