Did you know that over 60 percent of corporate data is stored in the cloud? That’s a tremendous amount of data for companies to organize, protect, and manage… especially when much of it is aging data that they aren’t actively using.

How do companies and their IT folks stay on top of this landslide of information?

Data archiving is part of the solution.

Archiving data is the process of storing infrequently used data for long-term retention. A data archiving strategy is the way you organize and sort data before storage. This is an essential task because huge lakes of raw, unstructured data are very difficult to sort and organize after archiving.

CDOs can ease a lot of stress and pressure by creating a strategy for sorting, organizing, and prioritizing data before it’s archived. This way files, information, and records are easy to access quickly, but are out of the way otherwise.

A data archiving strategy needs careful planning and clear directives for who can access data. It’s a lot of work (ehm, a headache) and you may wonder if it’s really worth it.

Let’s explore the benefits of creating a clear and comprehensive data archiving strategy for your organization.

Key Takeaways:

• All businesses generate enormous quantities of data from a wide variety of sources.
• Cold data must be archived to free up storage space, protect their data, and save money.
• A data archiving strategy makes it possible to sort, organize, and analyze data in order to provide actionable insights to companies.

Archiving Data Reduces Costs

Cold data is data your organization doesn’t use very often, but still needs to keep. It’s accessed infrequently, or may not be needed again, and there is little urgency for the information. Examples of cold data include legal records, old projects and the digital tools used to create them, historical customer data, business records, and archived data.

Defining what data counts as cold data for your organization, and how long to store it, is a core element of your data archiving strategy.

Traditionally, cold storage costs less than the premium prices placed on hot storage. Cold storage is more durable. It usually has a slower retrieval time than hot storage.

However, recent advances in cloud computing and AI tools mean that businesses can now enjoy cold data storage that offers easy accessibility and speedy retrieval of information. Now, parsing and analyzing cold data can be as easy and as fast as warm data storage.

Some enterprises may opt for hard storage options that separate cold data from the cloud completely. (For example, data stored on disks or tapes may need to be physically taken from a shelf to access information.) This is known as air gapped data. Storing data this way adds an extra layer of security that’s vital to protecting sensitive data.

For organizations still using more traditional cold storage methods, archiving data as it cools is still a money-saver.

Archiving Data Frees Up Hot Storage Space

Hot data is used in real-time to make rapid,  critical decisions. It’s accessed the most frequently, and is vital to a company’s day-to-day functions. Unsurprisingly, it costs more than cold data storage. Archiving data means companies don’t wind up paying premium prices to store information they aren’t really using.

While this saves money, the functional effect is that companies use hot storage to store hot data – the data that drives critical choices at lightning speeds.

Cold data has no business clogging up hot storage space because it robs the company of vital information they need most.

Archived Data is Secure

Archived data is secured in a variety of ways.

Air gapped data is an excellent example of securing data, but there are many others. Due to the sensitive nature of archived data, security is especially important here.

For cloud-based archives, businesses should choose an archiving service offering robust data security. Features can include network based monitors, geographically diverse data centers, specialized encryption for various data formats, and access controls that limit who can access or retrieve data.

These safeguards are essential because data thieves expose your customers’ personally identifying information (PII) to bad actors and identity theft.

Data Archives are Legally Compliant

According to Ipsos, consumers are wary of data collection, and many don’t understand how data is used, or how to protect their identity. Cyber criminals are very active thieves, and governments across the globe take consumers’ concerns about data protection very seriously.

For example, United States laws include the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) to protect customer data.

The United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is equally strict.

Archives Offer Long-term Retention and Data Backup

Data archives store data indefinitely. This is vital for businesses of any size, and two benefits of this really shine.

Using Past Data to Predict Future Trends

The point of collecting data is to inform decisions a company makes about how it interacts with customers, how to create effective policies, and to identify weak points or bottlenecks in daily operations.

As CRM and AI tools become more refined and effective, data yields more insights and patterns than ever before.

By harnessing these powerful tools and insights, businesses are able to make data-driven, laser-focused decisions about vital functions such as creating effective policies and procedures, interacting with customers effectively, and budgeting.

Disaster Recovery

Digital data is powerful, but vulnerable. Human error or accidents, natural disasters, and network or hardware breakdowns still occur, and mountains of data can vanish in an instant.

By archiving data, a business can access all of their stored information and restore operations quickly. Obviously, this unlikely-but-essential function of archived data is invaluable to disaster-stricken companies.

Do You Need A Reliable Data Archiving Service?

Even the best data archiving strategy is useless without a service with the capability to archive your data. If you’re seeking to store your data securely, search for exactly what you need when you need it, and know that your data is completely secure, contact Intermedia for an outstanding data archiving experience.

Melinda Curtis

Melinda Curtis is a Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia, where she focuses on helping businesses improve employee productivity and enhance their customer experiences using Intermedia's award-winning cloud communications solutions. Melinda brings over 20 years of experience in telecommunications, having worked in B2C and B2B marketing, product management, and vendor management roles. In her free time, she loves to travel with her family.