Robin Wilton's esoterica

       
 
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09 Oct · Thu 2008

One year on...


Maple and shad-bush,

The garden's autumn colours

Recall Shakotan.

hokkaido

Posted by racingsnake @ 02:06 PM GMT+00:00 [ Comments [1] ]

Data governance in times of recession


In the wake of the HMRC breach, you may remember that I described the questionable equation according to which the 'cost' of disclosing 25m unsecured records is more acceptable than the £5,000 it would apparently have cost to extract from those 25m the few hundred records which were all the Audit Commission actually wanted.

This reflects a couple of general truths about the current state of technology:

1 - in the absence of pressure to the contrary, it is now easier to store data than to destroy it (especially selectively); it is easier to share data than to compartmentalise it; it is easier to aggregate data than to segregate it; it is easier to visualise data than to conceal it.

2 - that 'pressure to the contrary' is in most cases non-technical. It's the governance we apply to data, the processes which control our use of data, the culture which determines whether we see data as an asset or a liability.

Bearing that in mind, you can revisit point 1 and substitute the word "cheaper" for the word "easier".

Yesterday the UK government announced its plan to allocate around £500bn to try to restore confidence in the global financial system; £50bn for share purchases in failing financial institutions, £250bn of guarantee funding for bank debt, £200bn in short-term loan provision by the Bank of England. This is in addition to £119bn already pumped into Northern Rock, and £14bn into Bradford and Bingley.

For comparison, as the chart in this BBC article illustrates, total annual public spending in the UK is $618bn, of which healthcare spending accounts for £111bn and education for £82bn.

One implication seems clear to me. The financial rescue plan cannot but create a massive deficit in the public account. Whatever the government's plans were for public spending over the coming years, the reality must surely be that public spending is in for a tight time. In that context, the pressure to reduce spending on information governance measures will be extreme, and the tendency will swing in favour of what is technologically easier and cheaper: aggregation, communication and retention of data - usually without the expensive luxury of being selective.

That, in turn, puts pressure on the technology community to redress the balance. We must do more to make the technology reduce the cost and effort of effective governance - and that is likely introduce new challenges of perspective, and of design philosophy.

Posted by racingsnake @ 11:07 AM GMT+00:00
 
 
 
 
 
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Such views as I express in this blog are based on my own opinions, experience and judgements. They do not necessarily represent the policy or views of my employer. It is not my intention to offend readers in any way. If you find anything on this blog offensive, please contact me in the first instance.
Robin Wilton
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