Big data, big waste: Where to put the data ballast?

Rising energy prices, supply chain issues, supply shortages and growing inflation are shining a new spotlight on sustainable and environmentally conscious behavior. The most environmentally friendly and at the same time most cost-effective resource is the one that is not used or consumed in the first place. In a thoroughly digitalized society, this also and especially applies to the handling of data. Aparavi, a solution provider for data intelligence and automation, explains how responsible data hygiene reduces costs, minimizes risks and at the same time contributes to sustainability. It's a matter of shedding data baggage.

1. Reduction of the data stockCompanies hoard terabytes of data on internal and external storage systems. Much of it is redundant. By analyzing and cleansing dark data, i.e. primarily unstructured ROT data (redundant, obsolete, trivial), storage requirements and resource consumption can be massively reduced.
2. Elimination of risk factorsUnstructured data is a ticking time bomb of unknown risks. For example, passwords, access data or sensitive, business-critical information can be hidden in this data swamp. This potential danger is eliminated if the data is identified as superfluous or critical and then either backed up or deleted.
3. Reduction of storage costs: Deleted data no longer needs storage. Data cleansing reduces storage space requirements and thus both hardware and software costs as well as space requirements, for example for backup and archiving. Companies thus save costs in the six-figure range. The costly oversizing of resources (provisioning) thus becomes superfluous.
4. Fulfillment of compliance and security requirementsEliminating risk factors also makes it easier to comply with security requirements and data protection laws, such as the DSGVO or the IT Security Act. In addition, the higher data transparency facilitates security handling.
5. Reduction of the carbon footprint: The more dark data that can be deleted after inventory, analysis, and cleanup, the fewer resources need to be allocated to data storage. This allows companies to reduce environmental impact and document a concrete verifiable measure in ESG reporting.
6. Minimization of the administration effortData cleansing can be carried out by trained employees in the specialist departments. This relieves the IT department. Once the data has been consolidated and reduced, another part of the costs for internal administration is eliminated. IT experts freed up as a result can thus be deployed for other, value-adding activities.

"Companies need to rid themselves of their data waste, because unstructured data is expensive and dangerous," explains Gregor Bieler, CEO EMEA at Aparavi. "By doing so, they also simultaneously reduce their CO₂-footprint - and create the basis for good karma." The company was founded by Adrian Knapp in 2016 in Zug, where its headquarters are also located. Other locations are Munich and Santa Monica, USA.

Source and further information: Aparavi