Information Governance Part 2: Top 10 Reasons You Need an IG Process in Place

In part two of our two-part series on information governance, we're here to tell you why you need a robust IG system in place.

In case you need a reminder, information governance is a specifically designed framework to handle personal information within an organization securely. It provides clarity between existing operations and delivers unity between processes and departments. 

Here's why you should implement a customized information governance process right now.

  1. Federal and Industry Regulations: According to the Information Governance Initiative's Annual Report 2015-2016,  66% of IG professionals reported that external regulatory, compliance or legal obligations were a driver of IG work. Because these rules change regularly, your business must stay up-to-date and modernize systems appropriately.

  2. External Events:  Data breaches, lawsuits, and ransomware attacks are more common now than ever before. These events and incidents should be on your radar if they aren't already, and you should ensure your IG systems are proactively protecting you from experiencing them.

  3. Defensible Deletion:  One of the best ways to mitigate risks? Defensibly destroy information and data not meeting compliance retention schedules. You'll gain transparency and ease of mind knowing your data is categorized and managed efficiently based on its business value.

  4. Reduce Costs: The right IG system can significantly reduce the cost of storage across your organization. Workflow automation, centralized policy management, and auto-classification will maximize value and lead to lower costs.

  5. Major Business Restructuring:  Mergers and acquisitions or changes in staff and leadership should prompt an IG initiative. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture: The administration, implementation, and complexity of your IG program should make sense and align with organizational transformations.

  6. Move Toward Paperless: If you're making the shift to digital, you should consider what would happen once all your files are in the cloud, in SharePoint or floating within your email inbox. You should optimize all systems when you go paperless to make sure everything is in its correct place.

  7. Cloud Migration:  To maintain efficient business practices and organizational productivity you're going to need an IG program utilizing the cloud. It's the only way to keep up with growing storage needs and expanding business development.

  8. All-Inclusive Business Capabilities:  Having an IG system that works just makes sense. It's a good business management practice and will break down silos - giving you an opportunity to do business better across departments and enabling employees to collaborate effectively.

  9. Data Loss Prevention and Data Security:  IG is all about getting information to its home in a safe and secure way. It will keep sensitive data secure and administer access control to reduce compliance risk. You'll also be able to constantly monitor data and apply the rules and policies you need.

  10. Archiving Solutions:  Have a pile of data and not sure what to do with it? With unified archiving, a central system will detect a file's value and determine if it's already been archived so you can avoid duplication across all storage systems. Because the volume of information is growing daily, you need a long-term solution that won't leave you overwhelmed with old, unused files.

No matter the reason, getting started on implementing an information governance program as soon as possible puts you one step ahead of the game.