All the information that your organisation retains should perform as a high value asset. For the IT department, the data is the primary asset from which your organisation should gain the maximum benefit.
However, if this data is not managed correctly it can rapidly become a distraction and a liability. Separate silos of data could be used to make critical day to day business decisions without ever being verified or integrated to reflect the overall 'big picture' of company performance.
With an increased focus on external compliance and regulation, information that was once deemed confidential now has to be disclosed to clients, compliance officers, internal auditors, external regulators and competitors.
To meet this challenge you need to implement policies that manage the complete lifecycle of data capture, management, storage and access for all your information assets.
The only way to achieve this is to implement an Information Management Strategy, developing an approach that ensures your organisation provides access to the right information at the right time to the right person.