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Alyssa BlackburnShare this article on:
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Despite the rapid shift to digital collaboration and cloud data storage to increase efficiency in the workplace, the act of finding content in a timely manner in today’s workplaces is no longer simple.
Gartner recently found that 47 per cent of digital workers struggle to find the information they need to effectively perform their jobs, raising the question of whether current approaches to information management are, in fact, improving or hindering productivity.
The complex ecosystem of data storage and management systems means digital workers — who now account for a significant portion of the workforce — are using multiple applications throughout their day to access, edit, and store information. In fact, 40 per cent of digital workers are using more than the average number of applications, and 5 per cent use 26 or more applications at work.
While some business leaders may see these outcomes as an inevitable and relatively harmless result of rapid digital transformation, the impact is more costly if it’s not appropriately addressed.
The easy route is not always the most secure
In an ideal world, executives could give employees the benefit of the doubt and trust that they would still follow all the right information management and security protocols around data, even if it takes them more time and effort. In reality, digital workers will always look for shortcuts.
Following the designated processes to send and store a file, when they are considered too complex or time-consuming, users will often opt to send a file via personal drives or save content in non-authorised or secure repositories like a desktop. Whether these tools and processes align with the company’s compliance, governance, and regulatory requirements becomes an afterthought, introducing threats and risks into the organisation. Consequently, the burden of information management on end users creates its own shadow IT sphere within the business.
A domino effect often follows, whereby the use of an ungoverned or unapproved tool by one person normalises the behaviour of not following best practices among other colleagues. One after another, technologies are quickly and unknowingly introduced into a business, or approved technologies are ignored completely. In turn, this decreases the oversight of information in an organisation while increasing risk and the threat of a security breach or attack.
Information management can no longer be seen as a cost centre
As has been proven with a range of headline-making data breaches in recent months, the rise in scams year after year, and the ongoing security threats to businesses as Australia continues to be a target for local and international bad actors, organisations are quickly realising that deprioritising information management is costly. Storing confidential information in the wrong place, holding onto information for longer than needed, or clicking on a seemingly safe email link can lead to millions of dollars in lost revenue. These costs are often just the tip of the iceberg, as organisations also need to manage short-term and long-term reputational damage and customer losses, as well as the costs of recovering lost data or damaged systems.
Despite this reality, many organisations in Australia still view information management as a cost centre. To ensure data is managed securely throughout its life cycle within an organisation, there are in-house resources, tools, technology, and training for people to ensure the right processes are understood and followed at all times. At a surface level, these activities and requirements involve costs. But when assessed against the risks of not making these purchases and the avoided further costs of a potential attack or breach, these are, in fact, investments with a significant return on investment (ROI).
In addition to this, with 2.5 quintillion bytes of information created every day (that’s 2.5 followed by 18 zeros!), this ROI can also be substantially achieved by strategically managing where information is stored and ensuring only the information that needs to be retained for business purposes actually is. Information life cycles can return significant savings to organisations that choose to run them.
The faster executives and boards can recognise the financial and brand ROI of information management, the more secure and better equipped they will be against the next security threat. Particularly in highly regulated industries, such as banking and financial services, retail, NFP, healthcare, government, and education, the risks of becoming non-compliant or being caught operating with shortcuts rather than approved processes could be catastrophic.
Alyssa Blackburn is the director of information management at AvePoint.
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