The Real Cost of “Just Keep Everything”
In today’s data-driven world, many organisations have adopted what seems like a safe approach to data retention: “Keep everything, just in case.” Whilst this strategy might feel prudent, it’s creating unprecedented challenges and costs that far exceed simple storage expenses. Let’s examine the true impact of this approach and explore how modern solutions can help organisations regain control of their legacy data.
The Hidden Costs of Keeping Everything
The most obvious cost of a “keep everything” strategy is storage, but this represents just the tip of the iceberg. Consider these often-overlooked expenses:
1. Legacy Software Licensing
Many organisations maintain expensive backup software licences solely to be able to access to historical data. These annual licensing fees can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars – not for active backup operations, but merely for the ability to read old backups if needed.
2. Hardware Maintenance
Legacy backup systems often require specific hardware configurations. Maintaining and replacing aging hardware components adds significant costs and complexity to your IT infrastructure.
3. Specialized Staff
Someone needs to understand these legacy systems. Whether it’s full-time employees or consultants, maintaining expertise in obsolete systems is expensive and becoming increasingly difficult as skilled professionals retire.
4. Legal and Compliance Risk
Keeping unnecessary data isn’t just expensive – it’s risky. During litigation or regulatory investigations, organisations must search through, review, and potentially produce relevant data. The more unnecessary data you retain, the more expensive and time-consuming this process becomes.
5. Opportunity Cost
When your IT department spends time maintaining legacy systems and searching through obsolete data, they’re not focusing on initiatives that drive business value. This opportunity cost, whilst hard to quantify, represents a significant drain on organisational resources.
The Search Problem
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of “keep everything” strategies is that they often fail at their primary objective: having data available when needed. We regularly encounter organisations that have maintained expensive backup infrastructure for years, only to discover they can’t efficiently locate specific information when required.
A recent client maintained over 100,000 backup tapes and spent nearly £800,000 annually on legacy system maintenance. Yet when faced with a time-sensitive legal request, they still needed weeks to locate and restore relevant data. The irony? After analysis, we discovered that less than 20% of their stored data had any business or legal value.
A Better Approach
The solution isn’t to simply delete everything – it’s to transform how you manage and access legacy data. This is where S2|DATA’s innovative approach comes in.
Step 1: Understand What You Have
Using our proprietary TRACS platform, we can scan your backup tapes and other legacy storage media, creating a searchable catalog of your data assets. This metadata repository, which we call Invenire, allows you to:
– Quickly identify what data you have
– Determine where specific information is located
– Understand data ages and types
– Make informed decisions about what to keep – and what to delete
Step 2: Enable Efficient Access
Through our TRACS (Tape Restoration and Cataloging System) technology, we eliminate the need for legacy backup software whilst maintaining complete access to your data. This means:
– No more expensive legacy software licences
– No specialised hardware requirements
– Rapid access to specific files when needed
– Significant reduction in maintenance costs
Step 3: Optimise Your Storage
With clear visibility into your data assets, you can make informed decisions about:
– What to retain and what to defensibly delete
– How to consolidate storage media
– Which systems can be retired
– How to reduce ongoing maintenance costs
Real Results
One global financial institution recently used this approach to:
– Reduce their tape storage footprint by 95%
– Eliminate £650,000 in annual software licensing fees
– Improve data access time from weeks to hours
– Significantly reduce their compliance risk profile
Making the Transition
Moving from a “keep everything” strategy to an intelligent data management approach doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t have to be disruptive either. The key is starting with a clear understanding of your data assets and implementing tools that make that data accessible and manageable.
Ready to transform how your organisation manages legacy data? Contact S2|DATA to learn how we can help you reduce costs, minimize risk, and improve data accessibility without maintaining expensive legacy systems.
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The status quo isn’t just expensive – it’s unsustainable. Isn’t it time to stop paying premium rates for a digital safety blanket and start managing your legacy data intelligently?