Originating Author: Fred Moore

It is estimated that companies will spend as much as $80 billion on compliance by 2009. Compliant records data is presently growing approximately 60 percent per year generating more than 2 petabytes of new storage capacity requirements in 2007. This represents the single fastest growing application segment of the storage industry. The growth rates are expected to slow by 2010 as those businesses that have decided to be compliant will have completed most of their operational changes.

The IT and data storage industry sits in the middle of the exploding compliance challenge. More compliance regulations suggest that more data should be stored, managed and protected throughout its lifetime. However, the expense of compliance is straining many businesses and compliance can account for as much as 5 percent of a typical IT budget. This is difficult to rationalize when IT budgets are often flat or shrinking. It is estimated that companies will have spent as much as $15-$17 billion in 2008 on compliance activities. In times when IT budgets are strained, there is a growing concern at many companies that the costs outweigh the benefits. Recently, CIOs polled indicated that compliance was the biggest waste of their staff’s time. Savvy companies are carefully choosing which regulations to be compliant with while surviving their audit requirements and remaining profitable.

Action Item: Organizations must balance the reality of compliance mandates with the need to be profitable. Compliance with high risk items is fundamental however trade offs must be made when evaluating 'gray areas' of compliance. Clear retention and destruction policies help but policies alone won't ensure compliance. Technology must be judiciously applied to minimize exposure while at the same time allowing compliance to be automated where possible.

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