10 ways organizations can succeed with data remediation
Taking control of enterprise information through a data remediation program can dramatically reduce enterprise risk and costs.
Building a business case, ensuring executive buy-in, training staff and executing a program to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges are not always easy, but important roadblocks that legal and information governance teams must overcome. When corporations are able to successfully execute a remediation program, they achieve much better footing to handle future challenges as data volumes and formats continue to expand.
Earlier this year, the Advice from Counsel study, which examined data privacy and security concerns and best practices among counsel at large U.S. corporations, reported that more than half of respondents have successfully conducted data remediation projects. They reported benefits including better protection of private and sensitive information and lowered storage costs. Interviews conducted for the study also revealed the strategies successful teams had utilized.
Following are the top 10 tips offered for getting a project done.
1. Figure out what exists. It is impossible to conduct thorough and accurate record destruction without knowing the full scope of what exists in the first place. Conducting a data mapping exercise is often the first step in identifying redundant, old or trivial data that is ready for remediation. We find these data maps can serve many other purposes and stakeholders, such as GDPR, e-discovery and records management to name a few.
2. Minimize business disruption. When it comes to internal data remediation, a project has a greater chance of success if it can be customized to how employees work, and disruption can be minimized. End users would rather be touched once with a single process or tool than 12 times with multiple processes or tools. The decision-making process should also be as easy as possible for employees. People who are not in IT don’t want to be responsible for activities they think IT or information governance should do, so remediation teams should make every effort to work behind the scenes.
3. Future-proof the program. It is important to ensure that fewer data pools are created in the future. IG teams should build controls into any new initiative before it is launched, so the disposition plan and requirements are already in place. It is very hard to do this retroactively after volumes of data have amassed.
4. Look beyond email.
