Five Common Misconceptions about Structured and Unstructured Data

• Structured data is quantitative (anything you can easily store in rows and columns) and relatively easier to keep compliant.
• Unstructured data is qualitative (think your emails and Microsoft Teams chats) and much harder to manage.
• Nearly all organizations are operating under one or more misconceptions about their data (and compliance or lack thereof with new privacy laws!).

If you’re familiar with the data compliance space, you already know that new laws require your organization to take specific steps to protect the rights of anyone whose data they hold. (If you’re not familiar with data compliance – surprise!)

The first step to maintaining compliance with these laws is understanding what data your organization actually has. Not having this understanding is dangerous for three reasons:

• The less you know about your data holdings, the more likely they are to contain noncompliant data. Which means legal action and large fines if they stay that way.
• In today’s world, it’s not if your data gets breached, it’s when. You want to ensure your data is in top shape to preserve your organization’s reputation.
• Cost! And not just in fines and breach remediation expenses. Chances are your organization doesn’t need most of the data it’s holding, and therefore could be saving a bundle on data storage.