Information Governance Can Make Data an Asset

Technologies like predictive coding play a significant role in narrowing the scope of data to potentially relevant evidence, but that early understanding is contingent on having an information governance program (IG) and data preservation strategies. “Data hoarding” of files that provide no value, duplicative information, or “dead” data that hasn’t been used or accessed in years, increase data security risks and also make identifying and accessing relevant information more time consuming when discovery begins.

Organizations should consider the following to build a corporate-wide information governance program: Understand gaps and risks before litigation or investigations arise. Deliver meaningful intelligence through master data management and data analytics to ensure your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provide accurate, consistent and clean data. Protect data according to industry standards, regulations and internal requirements, while ensuring the data is what it purports to be and that privacy standards are maintained. Develop policies and procedures to manage data throughout its lifetime. Develop policies that reflect the current state of the business, but also provide flexible means to maintain updates and deliver those updates to the organization. Determine that the use of data is aligned with business functions and employs technologies that are aligned with the organization and its needs.

An effective approach to IG enables information to be leveraged as an asset and ensures its security, so that when an e-discovery request arises you can access the data you need, when you need it.