A survey of senior ICT decision-makers shows Australian and New Zealand organisations require ‘Information Intervention’. The independent research conducted by Sweeney Research for Hitachi Data Systems has identified one in three organisations are unable to recover files from backup tape and a similar proportion would not be able to easily respond to a court-ordered discovery audit for emails sent and received 18 months ago. In addition, 82% of companies are putting their email retention strategy in the hands of their employees.
According to Hitachi Data Systems, these findings underline an epidemic, and have been addressed in a new report titled ‘The Great Information Glut’. This has prompted Hitachi to call for what it terms an ‘information intervention’.
Defining the information glut
Hitachi defines the information glut as the situation where growth and rising costs has led to inefficiency and inflexibility when it comes to information management. The research shows that one in every three companies across Australia and New Zealand with more than 100 full-time employees is suffering under the burden of excessive growth in digital information and/or the mismanagement of that information.
The impact of the information glut is considerable - only 5% of organisations that are experiencing an information overload say it has no impact at all, 69% say it has a moderate impact; 15% say it has a lot of impact and 11% say it has a great deal of impact on their organisation.
“The research shows that managing both the growth and cost of storing digital information remain important organisational priorities across Australia and New Zealand. In fact, keeping the growth of digital information under control is currently a slightly higher priority than keeping costs under control,” said Neville Vincent, Chief Executive, Hitachi Data Systems Australia.
“Unfortunately, there is still evidence that a significant proportion of organisations are suffering from what Hitachi calls the information glut - which is leaving organisations at the heart of the Australian and New Zealand economies exposed,” Vincent said.
“Information continues to be a key asset for every organisation. Managed correctly, it can fundamentally enhance a customer’s business, and it’s one of the keys to long-term business sustainability and growth.”
The main causes of the information glut are inadequate budget and staffing resources, and the very fact that organisations simply have too much information.
“As would be expected, the larger the organisation the larger the burden, with government organisations more likely to experience the information glut than primary production and trade and the service sectors,” said Vincent.
An information intervention
The findings from the report indicate the need for what Hitachi terms an ‘information intervention’, calling on Australian and New Zealand organisations to take a big picture look at existing systems and improving them to better manage growth, reduce total cost of ownership, improve utilisation and enhance information governance.
Mitigating risk is a major consideration, particularly in the evolving regulatory environment.
While the research identified the three most effective solutions to the information glut - as identified by ICT decision-makers - were an increase in ICT budget, improved storage hardware architecture and new storage hardware, it is a position Hitachi doesn’t necessarily agree with.
“We don’t necessarily agree with the premise that more hardware is the best solution. Better management of existing infrastructure could provide the best return on investment,” Vincent said.
Economic impact on information management innovation
According to the survey, the current economic climate seems to be having little impact on the decision making of the majority of organisations. The survey showed 65% of organisations have not put their plans for information technology investment on hold; two thirds of organisations are planning to invest in information technology; and 32% of organisations believe the current climate is an opportunity to develop a competitive advantage over other organisations within their sector, while only 24% of organisations say it is a risk.
It also shows a direct relationship between an organisation’s spending on innovation and its information management performance - organisations that deploy new technology across its operations are less likely to be stuck in the information glut than those that don’t have the budget available.
According to Hitachi, moving from economic downturn to recovery is the perfect time to recreate an organisation’s information roadmap. “Organisations that prepare now will be in a stronger, more competitive position when the global economy returns to bull market conditions,” said Vincent.
While a majority of organisations have ICT budgets that accommodate for future needs, the research shows around one in four are only able to accommodate current requirements and about one in 10 have budgets that do not even meet current requirements.
Intervention required for growth and economic sustainability
“The information glut facing organisations in Australia and New Zealand presents more than just a barrier to competitive edge. Mismanaging information results in pressure on infrastructure, financial burden, information downtime, compliance issues and increased risk,” said Vincent.
According to the research, 10% of organisations have information infrastructure that cannot accommodate growth. Only half can dynamically alter the performance or the cost characteristics of their applications when business requirements change, or have the capability to reduce multiple copies of the same files for efficiency (single instance storage).
On the other hand, there is a clear correlation between organisations whose IT budgets accommodate future needs and organisations whose share of IT budget for innovation has increased - those spending more on innovation are more likely to have an ICT budget that accommodates future needs.
Organisations that increase innovation spending are less likely to experience the information glut and those that are spending less on innovation are more likely to suffer from it.