Considering the volume of electronic data that we create in our day-to-day lives, information governance (IG) policies are a growing necessity in the corporate space. Not only do such policies allow for more manageable streams of data and better preparedness in the event of litigation, they can also mitigate damages in the event of a data breach.

In an interview on the risks associated with a lack of IG initiatives, Chris Gallagher, national director of eQ discovery services, told Legaltech News, “For corporations it's the risk of cost to them from potential class action and litigation cost from having private data breached. It's also the loss of intellectual property. When you look at that it really all converges at information governance, if you have a failure from how the data is stored and located, those are the risks you face.”

Those familiar with the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) know that information governance starts at the far left of the lifecycle and increasingly the volume of data that step deals with is becoming a priority for organizations. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Exterro Inc., 36.4 percent of respondents found locating potentially responsive data to be the biggest challenge in e-discovery.