Say goodbye to data clutter! Retention schedules for compliance and productivity

Data clutter is a widespread issue in businesses. It results from the accumulation of outdated or redundant documents, presentations, and spreadsheets that are no longer in use. Such files often remain on hard drives or in cloud storage without being regularly reviewed or deleted. This leads to a disorganised data structure that reduces productivity and poses security risks. Regular manual deletion—or setting automatic deletion deadlines—can help combat this problem.

Regular deletion is worth It!

Regularly removing old files offers several benefits:

• Cost Efficiency: Unused data takes up storage space and incurs unnecessary costs. By regularly deleting files, you save storage space and money.

• Productivity Boost: A clean data structure makes it easier to access important information. This saves time and increases employee efficiency.

• Enhanced Security: Old files may contain sensitive information, creating security risks. Deleting such files reduces the chances of data leaks and cyberattacks.

• Compliance with Regulations: Many industries have strict retention regulations. Regular deletion helps you comply with these regulations and avoid penalties.

Compliance: avoiding data clutter

In highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and law, strict rules govern data handling. Avoiding data clutter plays a key role in ensuring compliance.

Improperly managed data can lead to serious breaches of data protection regulations, as it is often overlooked and insufficiently secured. This also increases the risk of accidental exposure of sensitive information, which can have severe legal and financial consequences.

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Data management: automatic deletion deadlines

By implementing targeted measures to reduce data clutter, companies can enhance their compliance while also boosting data security. One effective solution is setting automatic deletion deadlines, ensuring that data is automatically deleted after a specified period. Possible measures include:

• Retention Rules: Administrators can set rules for how long different types of data are stored. These rules can be tailored to legal requirements, internal policies, or operational needs.

• Automatic Deletion: The system automatically deletes data once the retention period expires, ensuring compliance with storage and data protection guidelines.

• Categorisation: Data can be categorised by type or sensitivity to apply different deletion deadlines. For instance, personal data may have stricter deletion deadlines than general files.

• Notifications: An automated notification informs users of how long data will remain available. This ensures that everyone involved is notified in advance of upcoming data deletion.

Additional use cases

Automatic deletion deadlines are not only useful for regulatory requirements; they also assist in other areas, such as:

• Project-related documents

• Expired contracts

• Outdated HR files

• Current information

Automatic deletion deadlines save time, maintain an organised data structure, and enable efficient, secure working practices.

Deletion deadlines with FTAPI: boost your compliance!

With FTAPI, you have a powerful tool to support your compliance efforts. When sending files via FTAPI SecuMails, you can set how long the documents remain accessible.

In addition, you can establish automatic deletion deadlines within FTAPI SecuRooms. These rules can be applied at the data room level, to folders, or even to individual files. These features give you a distinct advantage, making cloud-based data rooms ideal even for highly regulated industries.