I had an interesting discussion recently with Peter Baumann. Peter is the CEO and founder of data privacy and governance software provider ActiveNav. According to its website, ActiveNav, founded in 2008, helps “privacy and compliance teams quickly identify, inventory and map sensitive data.”
Peter’s present goal is to develop solutions that address what he calls the “elephant in the room .”That is businesses having and maintaining too much unstructured that they really shouldn’t.
According to the Company, ActiveNav is on a crusade “of achieving Zero Dark Data across all types of repositories.” In Peter’s world, Zero Dark Data means unstructured data) and he wants to eradicate as much of it as he can. Pretty lofty long term goal.
80% of data in most business organizations is unstructured and all but ignored
In the meantime, Peter is passionate about the need to wipe out unstructured data that’s not necessary. He says 80% of data in most business organizations is unstructured and all but ignored. That’s because it’s hard to find. It’s hard to know who has it. And it’s hard to determine what needs to be retained.
Peter agrees that unstructured data is a particular problem for law firms. in the first place, too many law firms have no retention policy for themselves or have one that’s way too long. Despite this, lawyers frequently advise clients to develop sound retention policies tied to actual needs. And clients are advised that those policies be rigorously enforced.
But too few law firms, says Peter, follow their own advice. The unstructured data problem is further compounded by the fact that most lawyers are pack rats. They never want to throw things away: I might need that ten year old file someday, and we need to keep it! (Someday typically never
