Data retention is becoming an integral part of corporate success. It is estimated that the data storage needs of mid-sized companies will increase at a rate of about 35 percent per year. It will fall on the heads of IT departments to keep up with growing storage demands. An increase in storage capacity may be needed every two years. That means companies will see well over ten percent of their IT budget dedicated solely to storage maintenance. As storage needs balloon, within six years, it will be common to spend upwards of 50 percent of one’s IT budget on big data storage needs.
Data Sources
Your data source plays a large role in what sort of capacity you will need to wield to maintain your archived and incoming consumer data. Data derived from social media, competitive SEO analysis, web tracking, or web chats are immeasurably valuable. Then there are the run of the mill data streams such as client lists and client data. Additionally, observational data including loan, voter registration, real estate transactions, general records, credit report requests, etc. are commonly banked data.
Another avenue, less explored, are sources of unstructured data. It has become evident that documents and sources not normally associated with general data collection are filled with beneficial consumer data. Being able to efficiently mine for the data that will be equitable to your business becomes key, in conjunction with general storage needs.
When focused on only two or three data streams, storage may be more easily maintained. As your business grows, or data streams exceed ten sources, traditional storage methods may not be as cost effective. Global companies face the additional barrier of managing data coming from multiple streams, locations, and broad scale ready internal user access.
