The challenge of data fragmentation within the corporate milieu is becoming increasingly pressing.
As the shape of the technical landscape continues to change, so the days of one or two central systems meeting the breadth of organisational IT needs have slipped beyond us. We now have more departmental applications, collaboration and sharing environments, and cloud-based services at our disposal than ever before, says Mimecast's Marketing Director, Elize Holl.
To put matters into perspective, these environments are constantly being accessed by desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone devices that have the capacity to store and remove data from business networks. It's no longer enough to simply log in at the office. Employees desire remote access to corporate information wherever and however they choose.
With this in mind, has modern business lost control of its data?
A recent study conducted by Mimecast and global research and analysis forum, Freeform Dynamics suggests so.
In the report, entitled "Storage Anywhere and Everywhere - dealing with the challenges of data fragmentation", 300 IT professionals in mid-sized organisations across the USA and UK voiced concerns over the dispersal of corporate information due to an influx of new environments and platforms.
Significantly, 82% of IT managers in UK and US mid-sized organisations see decision-making hampered by data availability issues and 77% by data inconsistency.
Furthermore, 81% are concerned that employees are putting sensitive data onto consumer-grade cloud storage and services, while 93% admitted that they are currently struggling to control critical corporate data.
The first and perhaps most pressing issue associated with this trend is the resultant inability of business to exploit data. With over 2.5 quintillion bytes of new information created each day, it has become increasingly important to analyse and extract the insights that business information can offer.
This can equip organisations with a significant competitive edge. By understanding the underlying trends that exist within reams of corporate data, executives can drive strategy forward - leading the business into unchartered waters and, ultimately, new-found success.
Insight of this nature is impossible to achieve when information is fragmented or dispersed.
The emergence of 'Shadow IT' user devices - a term often used to describe IT systems and solutions employed within corporate frameworks without formal approval - and the popularisation of consumer cloud offerings over which these organisations exert no influence, has encouraged conflicting versions of data, information leakage and is gradually opening the door for systemic risk within business.
In many ways, these technologies - intended to afford staff greater freedom to achieve their goals - are making data analysis and insight increasingly difficult to realise.
During the study, most respondents recognise that the uncontrolled use of public cloud services is aggravating data fragmentation challenges and risks. Put simply - cloud is part of the problem.
Bring your own device (BYOD) policies and consumer-grade cloud storage offerings have made it increasingly simple to withdraw sensitive information from corporate infrastructures. This can swiftly lead to incomplete versions of the truth or absent data.
Usually, this is a relatively innocent exercise. For example, a sales employee might require a report during a new business meeting. To meet this need, the executive pulls a sensitive file into his personal Dropbox account for later use, but forgets to replace it later that day.
This constitutes data leakage, and can, if left unchecked, hold significant consequences for the business in question.
Fortunately, cloud services can also be part of the solution. In fact, many respondents indicated that a managed adoption of cloud storage and archives is a good way of achieving consolidation without sacrificing the pervasive access and convenience craved by users.
In these cases, a consolidated approach to cloud platforms and policies is the best remedy. During the survey, 39 'elite' performers in the study (13% of the overall sample) provided valuable insights into how best to deal with the challenges.
They highlight the importance of knowing your data and defining clear policies around the storage, retention and protection by information type. This in turn allows investment in technology, services and processes to be prioritised objectively. They also put a strong emphasis on exploiting cloud options proactively, rather than simply reacting to problems.
With robust internal procedures and a pre-emptive approach, organisations can indeed make the most of newly available platforms. In many ways, the first step towards avoiding the challenges associated with data fragmentation is simply awareness.
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