One thing is clear: There's lots of data out there and it's only going to grow. The question then becomes: What do we do with it and how to do we manage it? Lately, I've heard some people suggest that we should just keep everything forever, a strategy that makes little sense to me. I realize I'm not a records manager and I don't know what they face on a daily basis, but as an industry observer, my gut tells me the save-everything approach is simply foolhardy.

There's just too much data (and we're making more)

At his keynote last week at AIIM 2010, John Mancini, president of the AIIM Trade Association, said one of the trends having a major impact on content management was the explosion of data. As I reported in last week's Editor's Corner, as though we don't have enough human-generated content, Mancini pointed out there will soon be data from things, what is being coined "the Internet of things." 

If we are generating mountains of data, it seems the first thing you would start to consider is what to throw out, right? But Cyrus Mistry from Google had this to say about data: "Be open and transparent. Everyone gets access to all data and keep it forever." Whoa. Really? Forever? He did put some limits on it such as payroll data, and while I welcome transparency and openness, this seems to be stretching the limits for even the most liberal among us.

He's not alone

But Mistry wasn't alone with this assertion. There were others making the same claim. Deirdre Woods, Wharton's CIO and associate dean said essentially the same thing: "Let your users have access to all data and keep it forever." I just about fell out of my chair when I heard her say that. Of course, Woods works at a research school. Data is valuable and people want access to it (maybe forever).

A corporation is a different animal. You don't need emails from 10 years ago or every cafeteria menu since 1972. There are and should be things that are disposable at every organization (even Wharton and Google), and if you're smart you practice information lifecycle management (ILM). This puts some controls and discipline onto the process. It defines what types of data you save, what you throw out and when you delete it forever and always.

It's the litigation, stupid

It's always handy to paraphrase James Carville's 1992 campaign mantra: "It's the Economy, Stupid." When it comes to data, it's all about legal exposure. You don't want a smoking gun sitting amongst that pile of data. Just ask Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) if you doubt me. The firm's email trail is what has them in trouble now with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It may be that federal law requires them, as a financial institution, to keep these emails for a certain extended period of time, but it may also be that they never instituted an email deletion policy and it came back to bite them when the SEC came through the door looking for evidence in its case.

In my opinion, if you aren't required to keep it, and it doesn't have some business value, then you should get rid of it, plain and simple. You should absolutely have a lifecycle for all of your electronic data because if you don't--Ms. Woods' and Mr. Mistry's advice not withstanding--you are going to be in trouble if you ever get hauled into court or if a regulatory body such as the SEC starts sniffing around. On the other hand if you have a defined policy in place, the judge or regulator is far more likely to be sympathetic. What are you waiting for? Go get organized for goodness sake, before it's too late. The data pile isn't get any smaller, that's for sure. - Ron