| | SEPTEMBER 20188CIOReviewECM - EASE OF STORAGE IS THE NEW CHALLENGEBy Douglas Duncan, CIO, Columbia Insurance GroupBefore the Internet, before the thick encyclopedia, dusty library stacks, or even sheepskin scrolls stored in caves, there was unstructured data. Methods like notches on sticks, scratches on stones, and knots in strings were used, in addition to oral traditions of record-keeping. Our unstructured data is now shared through primarily the printed word and image, though much more often virtual than physical.Our technique has become more refined but is there a meaningful difference between how this data was stored in the past versus now? Our ancestors, those who were affluent or powerful enough to not spend all their time seeking food and shelter, were limited by the time and knowledge needed to record their information in a durable manner. It took experience and training to be able to make and decipher the marks, pictographs or lettering. It took skills and knowledge to create the tools to do this, and to pass them on to the next generation.The ability to increase knowledge requires the facility to store it for others to build upon. It is perhaps not a coincidence that along with our knowledge explosion of the last 400+ years, our ability to store (and share) that knowledge has also vastly increased. This is automation in a very pure sense.Today we have industrialized the knowledge storage and transfer process, making it a commodity limited only by our appetite for speed and volume. Storage is cheap, systems are fast, so why is there a concern?Douglas DuncanWhile Moore's Law is about the number of transistors on an Integrated Circuit, it applies to a group of related technologies, such as processor speed and the amount of information that can be stored. Because storage is fast and cheap, we assume adding more storage is the solution. That is like saying more ambulances will reduce traffic accidents or that a bigger freezer will make the ice cream taste better. The new problem we face is not about how much we can store but rather the value and utility of what we do store.The criteria for determining if a document or image should not be stored might be endless, but there are five key principles to consider: 1) Avoid duplication, 2) Delete outdated versions, 3) Only retain originals for a set amount of time, 4) Eliminate what is not utilized, and 5) Store in a common lake rather than individual ponds.
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