Survey reveals info governance gap in U.S., UK companies.

• Position: RISK MANAGEMENT - Brief article

Too many companies are relying on employees to self-manage their information, which may be putting them at risk. According to independent research published by Recommind, almost half (49%) of UK companies surveyed rely on employees to self-categorize data; that percentage is even higher (52%) among U.S. companies.

Interestingly, 75% of UK companies and 58% of U.S. companies claim to have an information governance policy in place, an indication that they at least understand the risks posed by their information. The over-reliance on employees to manage their own data, however, is a clear sign that they are not "tackling the issue head-on to proactively reduce risk," concluded the report. The research also found that of the U.S. companies surveyed, 82% agreed that some form of auto-categorization and tagging of data is a key component of effective information governance; 86% agreed that...