{"id":1219,"date":"2025-12-17T14:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crownrelo.co.nz\/records-management\/how-much-can-you-actually-save-getting-rid-of-redundant-data\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T23:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:14:56","slug":"how-much-can-you-actually-save-getting-rid-of-redundant-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crownrelo.co.nz\/records-management\/blog\/how-much-can-you-actually-save-getting-rid-of-redundant-data\/","title":{"rendered":"How much can you actually save getting rid of redundant data?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Every organisation stores more data than it needs. Some of it is essential, some of it is required by regulation, and much of it simply lingers, duplicated, outdated or trivial. This redundant, obsolete, and trivial information, often called ROT data<\/strong>, is quietly costing businesses money every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimates in this article are hypothetical<\/strong>, based on average industry data about the cost of hosting, maintaining, and managing enterprise information. Even conservative calculations show that ROT data can represent a major ongoing expense, one that few organizations measure or manage.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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How much of your data is actually useful?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Most companies assume that the majority of their data has value. The evidence says otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Veritas “Databerg” report<\/a> found that only about 15%<\/strong> of stored enterprise data is business critical. The rest is either “dark data” (content whose value is unknown) or explicitly redundant, obsolete, or trivial, roughly 29%<\/strong> of the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A global Splunk and Enterprise Strategy Group study<\/a> cited by IBM revealed that 60%<\/strong> of business leaders believe half or more of their organisation’s data is “dark,” meaning they do not know what it contains or whether it has value. Nearly one-third said three-quarters of their data fell into this category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When most of your stored information is either ROT or dark, every terabyte you host carries a cost with no return.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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The direct costs of ROT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The total cost of storing enterprise data is far higher than the cost of disks or cloud subscriptions alone. It includes infrastructure, power, cooling, administration, and licensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Gartner analysis estimated that the fully loaded cost of storing 1 terabyte (TB)<\/strong> of enterprise data can exceed US$3,300 per year<\/strong> once operational expenses are included. The Association for Intelligent Information Management also notes that when backup, management, and support are factored in, the total annual cost can reach US$20,000 to US$30,000 per TB<\/strong> in some large organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage costs per terabyte have dropped over the years, but total volumes have exploded. Most companies now spend more overall on storage, not less. Each terabyte that provides no business value therefore represents a recurring, unnecessary cost.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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The Hidden Productivity Cost<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The financial impact of ROT extends beyond hardware and hosting, however. In other words, it’s not just about hosting costs (that’s only a small part of the equation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to IBM<\/a>, unmanaged and unknown data leads to “inefficiency costs,” since employees waste time searching for the right information or recreating work that already exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AIIM estimates that between one-third and two-thirds of enterprise content in unmanaged environments is ROT. Over time, this accumulation of irrelevant data creates a “productivity tax” that affects nearly every department. You’re probably familiar with this, regardless of what department you work in.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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A Hypothetical Example: A 1,000-Person Organization<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let’s imagine a mid-sized professional services firm with 1,000 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n