5 Simple Steps to Manage Your Data Repository

Did you know that businesses today store about 2.2 zettabytes of information, according to a recent report from Symantec? On an average, enterprises handle 100,000 terabytes of data, and it’s estimated that the figure shall grow by 67% over the coming year. With so much information in circulation, imagine how much the businesses would need to spend for managing these quantities of data. It’s a lot higher than most guess – it’s about $38 million a year!

Data management is riddled with questions – What data exists? How do you manage it? What precautions can be taken in organization’s against long term risks and liabilities? What type of flexible platform can adapt to the new data environment and strategies?

The following five steps will enable you to manage the ballooning amount of data at your enterprise:

Optimize your information

View data management for a while when accumulating, accessing, consuming and managing critical business information. Practice key optimization technologies like cloud computing, virtualization, consolidation, dynamic data centers, disaster recovery colocation, data center certification, mobile devices and applications.

Understand your data, map it out and then deal with it

Have clear ideas on what you possess and where it is. With detailed knowledge of the content, you can categorize, prioritize and deal with it more securely and efficiently.

Setting consistent plans and policies

The simple law of ‘breaking down anything big into smaller units makes it manageable and achievable’ works here. Your plans and policies should follow a top-down approach, from the riskiest data to the lower risk items. This helps information categorization, automates the finding of ownership of specific information, information deletion and retention, controls access, management, distribution, etc.

Use software tools

Indexing software is used by Federal and State agencies to help inventory data assets and to ensure the protection and better management of data. Summary Reports can be generated for profiling the enterprise data usage.

Keep plugging awat at it

Always look for improvements, through flexible technologies and infrastructures, that can foster growth continuity and better data center reliability.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.