These tools can help you identify unused data in your systems and turn it into a valuable asset

Data has never been more critical than it is today. Most businesses can’t collect enough, whether they use it to understand their customers or to break down their costs. Ideally, all of that data is high-quality. It’s easy to understand, easy to organize, and gets stored in the right location. But not having a plan and process in place can lead to dark data.

Sometimes, data isn’t processed correctly. Maybe it’s corrupted; maybe employees forget about it. Maybe it just gets lost. Wherever it comes from, dark data represents a world of missed opportunities for your business. It can also pose a significant threat to your company’s compliance. This guide to dark data management will help you bring yours under control.

Need help getting a handle on your data? Check out Unstructured Data: A Guide for Business for more information.

What is dark data?

Dark data is any information an organization collects, processes, and stores during regular business, but isn’t easily accessible or usable. Most of the data your organization collects can help it in some way. You might use it to build partner relationships, refine your marketing efforts, or adjust your revenue forecasts. Data becomes dark data when it’s neither used nor removed.

How is dark data created?

One primary source of dark data is poor data quality. When data is unstructured or is partially corrupted, it may not seem worth the effort to try and extract value from it. Take document scanning as an example. An unclear scan may prevent your optical character recognition (OCR) from correctly recognizing data on it and your document management system (DMS) won’t be able to route the information correctly.

As a result, that scan and all the data it contains will probably become dark data. The paper document itself, stored and forgotten in a filing cabinet, also represents dark data. The information the scan and the paper file hold won’t be able to benefit your business until you realize what’s gone wrong and correct it.

Our dark data definition can also include high-quality data that wasn’t stored properly. Without a clear data governance policy, employees may not know how to organize the documents they receive. They may not even realize the data has value, leading them to store it haphazardly. And if they don’t realize the data could be helpful to other teams, they may store it in a siloed location. When data isn’t accessible to the right people, it can go dark.

As you upgrade your systems, data stored in legacy locations may never be transferred to your new ones. New tools you introduce may be unable to access old data. The result is an ever-growing pool of dark data.

Did You Know?:Ricoh scanners use advanced image correction technology to enhance scans, correct for skew, and apply OCR to ensure your digital documents are processed correctly. Click here to learn more.

How dark data affects operations

Dark data can have several adverse effects on your business. Data storage costs money, whether it’s in physical servers or via the cloud. As your dark data stores grow, they drain more of your budget without producing any returns. But the true cost of dark data lies in the unknown.

If you don’t know what you’re storing, you don’t know if it carries any particular liabilities. Consider a cluster of dark data that includes misplaced sensitive data . If you don’t know you have that info, you can’t adequately protect it. If a threat actor broke into that storage area, you could face serious data breach consequences.

Dark data isn’t useless — it just hasn’t been used. It’s plausible that lots of valuable data is just waiting to be uncovered. Every day you don’t perform dark data discovery, you may be incurring opportunity costs.

How to manage dark data

Illuminating dark data

Dark data management starts with an evaluation of your existing data. Set aside time to go through your data stores and classify what you have. Prioritize locations that aren’t frequently accessed or that employees haven’t visited in a long time. Wherever you find misplaced data, move it to a location that makes sense. As you work, create a detailed map of where each kind of data is stored to use as a reference document later on.

Your next step should be to break down data silos. Providing direct access wherever possible will help to improve efficiency, but should be done with care. One of cybersecurity best practices discourages universal access for employees, but there are ways to safely improve visibility without sacrificing security. For example, you might consider giving all teams visibility into where data is stored without providing access. That way, employees know who to ask for data even if they can’t get it themselves. Cultivate a culture of communication, in which teams share what they need and answer each other’s requests promptly.

Preventing dark data creation

Your best protection against creating new dark data is to design a rigorous, easy-to-follow policy for data management. Whenever data enters your organization, employees need to know exactly how to treat it. This policy should include directions on how to properly digitize paper documents and extract their data. It should also include a step for quality control and guidance on how to store both the digital and physical copies of a document. Finally, it should address what data needs to be retained, what can be destroyed, and schedules for data destruction.

Did You Know?:PaperStream Capture makes it easy to turn scanned documents into searchable PDFs in just a few simple steps. Click here to learn more.

Spotlight dark data with Ricoh

Don't let dark data get the best of you. With Ricoh, you can make sure your digital transformation leads to high-quality data and neatly organized data stores. Ricoh's industry-leading document scanners can help you bring your paper workflows into digital ones. Each includes powerful PaperStream software with optical character recognition (OCR) technology to drive data-saving automations.

Ready to learn more about how Ricoh can help you manage your dark data? Book a consultation today.

Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal or financial advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.