Is it better for companies to have too much data or too little data? Why?
Effects of too much data in a company
Data is very much essential for the functioning of a company but data should not be too much. The data should not be too much because it is difficult to preserve surplus data as it requires extensive maintenance and restoring process. Having too much data in a business is too complicated and risky. A company must be having enormous data and many steps are required to be taken for its preservation and protection, like data back up, storing of data in internal or external disk etc. So, if a company has to store huge data, it consumes time and needs more cost for storage and security. Data is stored in a computer system and too much data storage causes overload to the system which may result in system failure and system downtime. In an organization, there are many external and internal data and they have to be saved for future reference and usage. “Common reality is that most enterprise data is quite useable.” (Lucker, 2005, Step 2- getting enterprise- wide information ready for use, para.4).
So, when saving data, it should be concerned to save only the essential and important data; this reduces the volume of data. Data is essential for business operations; so analyze properly the data needed for the functioning of the business and eliminate unnecessary information or data. Too much data can be a problem because it will be difficult to handle large amount of data by the company. The companies usually store all the data for a long time. So, if any particular information is needed, the entire stored information will have to be searched. This is a tedious job and results in waste of a lot of time of the employees. “On top of the price of disks, tapes, networks and management, piling up too much data can come back to haunt a company in case of a lawsuit. It may cost $1 million to find and compile the data requested in “e-discovery,” the process of collecting electronic data as evidence, says Andrew Cohen, vice president of e-discovery and compliance at EMC.” (Lawson, 2009, para.4).
Thus, if there is too much data it will cause congestion, and access of data cannot be made easily. It is better to store only the information that is useful for the company and which the employees often use. It is better to delete all the other information and retain only the important data. The data has to be organized and studied in an efficient way. So that it helps in accessing of data or information of the company in easy and better way. The employees may find it difficult to study too much data. Company has to spend large amount for collecting too much data which reduces the profit of the company. Some data collected may be of no use to the company. Such irrelevant data is a waste to the company. Collection of unimportant data will be a waste of time and money. So, it is better to have data which are relevant than to have too much data that are of no importance. Storage of surplus data in a company causes many security issues. If these data are not managed properly it will effect the performance of the company.
There is also benefit in storing all the data. They may be needed to prepare report of any kind in future; in such cases, all historical data is very essential. And “when you organize your report suites into a hierarchy, you have to keep in mind that a single data point is likely going to end up in multiple locations.” (Robison, 2009, Personalizing your data, para.3).
Effects when the data is too little
When data is too little, then also there will be some problem, because in the competitive business field relevant and current data or information is needed for the smooth functioning of the business. So, if data is too little, the company cannot function properly. When collecting the data, companies should “focus on broad needs that will provide value to the many rather than the few.” (Lucker, 2005, Step 2- getting enterprise- wide information ready for use, para.7).
When organizing data for an organization, it is necessary to prioritize the requirements rather than to collect the whole data which may not be needed. While organizing the data, the business owner should examine the advantages and disadvantages of data and also should apply high techniques to store the data in a safe manner. Loss of data will cause failure of the business and its reputation in the market. Too little data will be easy for storage but it will affect smooth functioning of the company. If the company has too little data, there may be problems for the employees in getting the data required by them. While doing work, they require variety of information and if they don’t get all the needed information it adversely affects their work. They can’t complete the work which affects the functioning of the company. If the work is completed with the available data, the output may lack many of the needed characteristics. That is, it will give incorrect results. Thus, too little data will also hinder the smooth working of the company.
Reference
Lawson, S. (2009). Why IT would start throwing data away. About.com: Computing Center. Web.
Lucker, J. (2005). Customer insight/ business intelligence: Sometimes god is good enough: Step 2- getting enterprise- wide information ready for use. Insurance & Technology. Web.
Robison, B. (2009). Data organization: variable usage within the report suite: personalizing your data. Omniture: An Adobe Company. Web.