Information explosion is a reality that all organizations have to deal with on a daily basis. The management and easy availability of information is a challenge most of the Indian enterprises are facing today. Thus, to understand how enterprises are dealing with this challenge, Symantec recently conducted a survey, Information Retention and eDiscovery, which was carried across 2,000 organizations worldwide (out of which about 100 where Indian enterprises).

According to IDC study, 60 percent growth in data is expected in India over the next 10 years. The study also predicts that total investments on storage are expected to rise.

As per the survey, digital data is growing at an alarming rate in India. Information growth in India is faster than global rate and the country is unique in terms of data retention regulations. Also, in India, there is no Central Act which has laid down the provisions related to data retention laws. “Organizations have their own data retention policies and certain rules for retention of such records,” said Vijay Mhaskar, Vice President - Information Management Group, Symantec.

According to the survey findings, 60 percent of end users in India do not archive information and over 50 percent organizations allow end users to create their own archives. Thus, Mhaskar believes that the companies in India are risking business continuity by asking employees to protect information.

Also, in terms of legal aspects, Indian organizations take almost double the time to provide the lawyers with information they need to make an early case assessment, as compared to the global market. 

This does not mean that the Indian enterprises do not have an information retention policy; in fact the survey shows that over 75 percent organizations believe that a proper information retention policy can help them delete information. But the challenge is that only 20 percent organizations have a formal information retention plan in place.

“If a company does not have a formal retention plan, then it is spending more in storing data and this practice could even lead to business risk. Thus, it is important for the enterprises to have a proper backup (to restore) and archival (to retain) plan,” concluded Mhaskar.