Survey: unstructured data a growing challenge.

• Position: INFO GOV PROGRAMS - Brief article

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While most companies are aware of the importance of information governance (IG), many do not have insight or control over employee-produced data, according to a recent survey from Acaveo and Osterman Research.

They surveyed more than 100 organizations that stored an average 20 TB of unstructured data and found that only 37% of them regularly audited the amount of data employees or business units produce. Just 35% said they had a budget in place to deal with unstructured data challenges.

Overall, while many companies admitted to struggling with governing unstructured data, only half of the surveyed companies said they have an IG program in place to help deal with it.

But they do understand the importance, as 70% cited regulatory risks and 66% cited the need to avoid any data risks as reasons to adopt an IG program. In addition, 75% of respondents noted the...