The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/116777
SOURCE: "2011 IDC Digital Universe Study," sponsored by EMC THE FUTURE IS DIGITAL Let's face it, the future of information is digital. Children are growing up in a technical age, and most can use a computer better than their parents. We use technology every day: at the ATM, sending an email message, buying tickets online, etc. Even our cars are going digital. The fact that so many transactions and activities are becoming digital means that data volumes will soar to new heights. When we receive that external hard drive full of client data, how do we best manage it? The following are steps you can take to start managing the growth of data in your firm. • Engage Firm Management: This isn't just a concern for legal IT professionals. Firm management needs to be involved and a vocal proponent for the administration of big data. • Communicate, communicate, communicate! As an IT professional, you should work with other departments to make decisions about data retention timeframes, data archiving and the creation and enforcement of policies. Confer among the departments and ask questions to get an overall sense of the volume and velocity of data coming into your firm. • Organize: Try to organize your data as much as possible. The reduction of duplicate data within your firm is a great place to start. How many copies of datasets do you have out there: one, five, 30? There are excellent utilities to assist with reducing duplicate data. 48 Peer to Peer • Set Realistic Goals and Objectives: Take a look at archiving, disaster recovery, SANs, mirroring and managing your backups. Get an analysis of your data, and determine where your volumes are concentrated. Are your largest sources of data generated internally, or is most coming from outside your firm? When storing data, you not only have to address security needs and concerns, you need to check the data availability. If the data are being stored and users need access, how quickly can that be accomplished? • Train Attorneys and Staff: Once you have a plan, it's important to educate users about your organization's policies. What should be stored and where? What should be deleted? Technology can only take us so far in managing the data we're creating. Ninety percent of all the data in the world was created in the past two years, and the growth continues to rise at a higher rate than ever. Storage prices are decreasing, and technology is improving, but it's difficult to keep up. This digital growth creates obvious storage administration nightmares. Organizations are struggling to find the best way to manage the increasing amounts of data while not exhausting their budgets. They also need to find the right balance between saving data to avoid losing something critical and deleting some of the unnecessary accumulation. With the proper planning, organization, training and involvement from the firm on all levels, you can avoid the big data explosion.