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In scrolling through my folder of Potentially Interesting Items this morning, I came across the following:

“IDC projects that the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes (ZB) by 2020, an amount that exceeds previous forecasts by 5 ZBs, resulting in a 50-fold growth from the beginning of 2010.”

My first thought was, "Holy cow – that's a lot of data! How is any organization supposed to wrap its arms around that?!”

And then I realized: it's a non-issue because no organization needs to contend with anywhere near that amount of information! Now, I'm not saying this research finding is wrong, but in point of fact, the only figure you need to be worried about is the one that reflects the volume of data your organization possesses. And more specifically, you need to concern yourself with the subset of that volume that encompasses the data your organization (a) is required to possess and (b) actually uses.

Like as not, there is a lot more information kicking around your cubicles and repositories than you are legally or operationally required to keep. And like as not, a lot of the information you are storing is never touched by anyone. So your first step must be to take an inventory of what you have so you can (a) match the results up with your retention schedules (assuming you have any!) to see what you might get rid of, and (b) figure out what can be discarded without anyone noticing.

What's left represents the pool of data that you truly have to contend with – and not only will this be far less than the 40 ZB mentioned above, it will be a lot less than the amount you started with as well.

So the next time you see a scary-big number used to describe just how daunting the task of information management is becoming, remember that your own situation is likely a whole lot more tenable. This isn't to say that your work will be easy, but you needn't feel compelled to run screaming into the street – or into the arms of the research firms and solution providers that may be trading in fear, uncertainty, and doubt in order to capture your attention.