Most organizations lack long-term strategy for data protection

A majority of organizations in healthcare and across industries are required to store certain data for a specified number of years, but most lack a coherent long-term strategy for how to preserve and protect that data.



That is the finding of a new study conducted by the think tank Information Governance Initiative (IGI), which was sponsored by Preservica. The study warned that this gap has economic, legal and business competitiveness implications.



Specifically, the study found that virtually all organizations (98%) are required to keep certain information for ten years or longer. Further, 97% of information professionals surveyed said they understand the need for a specialized approach to preserve these assets. But only 11% are storing data in systems specifically designed to ensure long-term protection and access.



Entitled “The Governance of Long-Term Digital Information: IGI 2016 Benchmark,” the study also reveals that the professionals charged with data storage in most organizations are aware of the unique challenge of opening, using, and relying upon digital files over the long-term -- namely, that software and hardware can be obsolete long before an organization’s legal need or business requirement to keep and use that information expires.