Why Information Governance Matters in Legal Preservation

Implementing a robust information governance program is critical for large organizations. The importance of information governance simply cannot be overstated. It helps to achieve organizational goals, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making capabilities.  

Some of the key reasons why information governance is critical for organizations are: 

Compliance 

Effective information governance ensures an organization complies with its legal and regulatory requirements related to data protection, privacy, and security. Non-compliance can result in hefty legal and financial penalties, damage to reputation, and loss of customer trust. Compliance is made more difficult for a global organization. Even within the same industry, geographic regulations and requirements differ. 

Risk Management 

Effective information governance helps organizations manage the risks associated with their data assets, including the risks of data breaches, cyberattacks, and data loss. By implementing appropriate policies, procedures, and technologies, organizations can mitigate risks and protect their sensitive information. 

Improved Decision-Making 

Implementing, and adhering to a well-designed Information governance framework ensures that data is accurate, current, and readily accessible. This enables organizations to make informed decisions based on reliable data, ultimately leading to improved outcomes. 

Cost Savings 

Information governance helps organizations reduce data storage, management, and security costs. By implementing policies and procedures to manage data effectively, organizations eliminate unnecessary data, reduce storage costs, and optimize data usage. Historically some organizations have taken the “store everything forever” approach. This is no longer an advisable approach because having too much data can work against an organization during litigation, increases the likelihood of a data breach, and costs more. 

Competitive Advantage 

Organizations that implement effective information governance gain a competitive advantage by leveraging their data assets to improve business operations, develop new products and services, and better understand their customers' needs. Forecasting is far more effective with specific, tailored information. An organization’s internal information is the most useful to extrapolate when trying to make long-term or organization-wide decisions. 

Data Sovereignty & Information Governance – Do You Really Own Your Data? 

Data sovereignty demands that data adhere to the legal requirements of the location where the data was created and where it is currently stored. 

Do organizations own their data? This is a complex question. Organizations generally have legal rights and responsibilities over their data, including the ability to access and utilize it, as long as they are within the regulatory bounds of their location.  

Additionally, organizations have the responsibility to protect data from unauthorized access or use. Finally, organizations must comply with legal and regulatory requirements related to the use of their data. 

However, the issue of data sovereignty can complicate matters. For example, if an organization stores data in a cloud service provider's data center located in another country, that data may be subject to the laws and regulations of that country, which may be different from the organization's home country. This can create challenges related to data privacy, security, and compliance. 

To address data sovereignty challenges, organizations need to incorporate certain considerations into their information governance policies and practices. This may involve 

• selecting cloud service providers that can host data in the required location(s)
• implementing data protection measures
• ensuring that data is stored and processed in compliance with relevant laws and regulations

Ultimately, answering the question of who owns data will depend on a variety of factors, including the nature of the data, the organization’s legal and regulatory environment, and the policies and practices in place that create, store, and process it. By implementing effective information governance policies and practices, organizations can help ensure that they retain control over their data and that it is managed in a secure, compliant manner that is aligned with its goals and objectives. 

Legal and Regulatory Considerations 

An effective information governance program cannot be enacted without considering legal and regulatory requirements, a process known as legal preservation. Organizations that fail to meet their requirements face legal and financial consequences, damage to reputation, and loss of trust. Here are some other considerations to keep in mind: 

Privacy laws 

Privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), require organizations to protect personal information and provide individuals with certain rights related to their personal information. Organizations must ensure that they are complying with the laws that apply to their geography, including obtaining appropriate consent for collecting personal information and implementing security measures to protect personal information. Dealing with privacy laws can be especially complex in a global organization where different requirements may be in place from location to location. 

Data retention laws 

Data retention laws require organizations to retain certain types of data for a specified period. Organizations must ensure that they are complying with data retention laws and implementing appropriate data retention policies and procedures. Failure to implement proper retention or compliance practices results in legal and financial consequences.  

Data breach notification laws 

Data breach notification laws require organizations to notify individuals in the event that their personal information has been compromised. Failure to comply with these laws results in legal and financial consequences. Organizations must ensure that they are complying with data breach notification laws and implementing appropriate data breach response plans to protect themselves in the event of a worst case scenario. 

eDiscovery requirements 

eDiscovery is the process of producing electronically stored information (ESI) as evidence in legal proceedings. Organizations must ensure that they are complying with eDiscovery requirements and implementing appropriate policies and procedures for managing ESI. 

Records management laws 

Records management laws require organizations to manage their records, including their electronic records, in a compliant manner. Organizations must ensure that they are complying with records management laws and implementing appropriate records management policies and procedures. 

Expireon 

Cloudficient has designed a solution to the problems presented by traditional information governance tools: Expireon. With Expireon, organizations can achieve unified data management by consolidating their data environments to provide a single repository for email, communication, M&A remnants, and more. Data held within the Expireon platform can be assigned retention policies, indexed at will, searched against, placed on legal hold, exported in PST format to another tool, and defensibly expired when the retention period is complete. 

Any data in our platform is always accessible by our clients. That means that we do not charge egress fees if they chose to move their data. It also allows them to easily share data sets with outside counsel for legal review. With Expireon, organizations can address holes in their current compliance suite and complete the left side of the EDRM model at a compelling price point.