Symantec global study: over-retention is risky.

• Position: SURVEY - Survey

One in six companies archives its files indefinitely, which could put that company at greater risk of additional storage requirements, inefficient search and discovery, processes, and increased litigation risk, according to a recent global study of enterprise data retention practices commissioned by Symantec.

The "2010 Information Management Health Check Survey" included 1,680 senior IT and legal executives in 26 countries from companies with more than 500 employees.

The study found that while 87'% of the respondents believe in the value of a formal information retention plan, only 46%, actually have one in place. Other key findings include:

* Enterprises are retaining far too much information: 75% of backup storage consists of infinite retention or legal hold backup sets. Respondents said 25% of the data they back up is not necessary.

* Enterprises are misusing backup, recovery, and archiving: 70% use backup software to implement legal holds, and 25% preserve the entire backup set indefinitely. Respondents said 45% of backup storage comes from legal holds alone. In addition, enterprises said that, on average, 40% of information placed on legal hold is not specifically relevant for that litigation.

* Legal and IT differ on the need for an information retention plan: 41% of IT administrators don't see why a plan is necessary, 30% said no one is responsible for that, and 29% cited cost. Legal cited the top issues as cost (58%), lack of...