Yes but who’s saying it?
Jinfo Blog

27th August 2008

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Faced with an uncertain future, it’s natural for information managers to search anxiously for clues to where the diminishing range of growth opportunities may lie. So when three comparatively recent reports all point in the direction of data archive management as one recession-proof activity, perhaps we should sit up and take notice. Organizations that keep all their information because of the threat of litigation and regulatory action, and the fear of losing something valuable, will significantly overspend on storage, says the first. Instead of buying yet more storage to manage old corporate data, it recommends http://digbig.com/4xjsg investing in information access technologies – to help identify information kept in primary storage that can safely be moved to secondary storage, and to provide a ‘shaft’ through which to view information that no longer has value, as well as a mechanism for extracting it. Information life-cycle management – from the time it’s created to the time it’s destroyed – is the chosen solution for the second report. Formalised database archiving can bring enormous benefits, the report continues http://digbig.com/4xjsf including reclamation of storage space occupied by inactive data, improved searching response time – and mitigation of security risks associated with keeping data online, while still being able to meet the growing range of legal disclosure requirements. But your cutting edge records management practice could come to naught unless you plan for the rogue IT manager – and our third report paints an alarming picture of what can happen when recession means dismissing your IT guys. According to a survey of 300 IT security professionals undertaken at Info Security 2008 http://digbig.com/4xjsh 88%, if laid off tomorrow, would steal valuable and sensitive company information – including the CEO’s passwords, the customer database, R&D and M&A plans, financial reports, even the company’s list of privileged passwords. So database archive management looks like the way to go for the ambitious information manager determined to ride out the downturn unscathed. But before you build your case to top management, perhaps using the results of these and other reports to support it, you do need to know where they came from. The first one came from an independent IT consultancy – Gartner – with no obligation to anyone other than its clients. The second one (registration required) was also carried out by an IT analyst – Forrester – but was commissioned by a company called Clearpace Software, which is actually a database archiving firm. The third one was a DIY survey by a company called Cyber-Ark software, whose business is – you might have guessed – privileged identity management solutions. No reason to doubt the accuracy of its results, but it’s hardly a disinterested party – and you don’t want to give your bosses any opportunity to pick holes in your case.

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