Organisations Struggle With Content Responsibility in Evolving Digital Landscape
The digital landscape is evolving rapidly, with organizations struggling to keep up with content responsibility and information governance. While platforms are increasingly regulated, many organizations still grapple with assigning responsibility for content generated through various channels. The Internet of Things (IoT) adds another layer of complexity, set to generate vast amounts of data by 2020.
Currently, organizations like social and cooperative platforms, emails, instant messengers, tweets, and cloud storages have not all been assigned clear responsibility for the content they generate. While laws like the Digital Services Act (DSA) are regulating platforms, many content responsibility and moderation tasks still rest with large platforms and trusted flagger organizations. Meanwhile, many organizations struggle to apply existing rules to unstructured, vast, and difficult-to-categorise information types.
Strong information governance is crucial for making judgment calls about record disposition and limiting storage and vulnerability. However, information governance frameworks may struggle under the weight of IoT data, requiring organizations to classify data and determine what to retain and delete. Close to one in ten organizations fail to regulate even well-established information types such as email and customer data, leading to a 'keep-it-all-in-case' culture that increases storage costs and risks.
Organizations must consider security, compliance, and employee behavior when dealing with social media posts, texts, instant messages, tweets, and online file sharing. A third of businesses have yet to allocate responsibility for content created through these channels. IoT data will pose further challenges, including data protection, security, recovery policies, and regulatory compliance. Connected devices may generate personal information that needs to be regulated and protected, such as data from a domestic fridge monitoring energy use or health information.
As the digital landscape continues to expand, organizations must adapt their information governance strategies to keep pace with the evolving content responsibility landscape. This includes assigning clear responsibility for content generated through various channels, implementing robust information governance frameworks, and addressing the unique challenges posed by IoT data.
