Todd Dorsey recently interviewed Ken Clipperton, Principal Researcher at DCIG, about the organization’s expanded research into unstructured data management. This article reveals how DCIG is addressing marketplace confusion with an actionable framework for dealing with unstructured data management challenges.
DCIG’s Decision to Research Unstructured Data Management
In the last several years, DCIG has published more than ten TOP 5 reports covering various aspects of unstructured data management. However, DCIG discovered a significant gap in the marketplace. “There’s really no good mental model for people to understand the overall unstructured data management space,” Ken Clipperton explains. After meeting with nearly 20 solution providers, Clipperton found widespread confusion about what constitutes unstructured data management.
Each vendor uses different definitions and offers varied capabilities across the unstructured data management spectrum. This confusion creates challenges for organizations seeking to acquire additional storage or data management solutions. They lack a comprehensive framework to guide their decision-making process.
Unstructured Data Management Challenges
Organizations increasingly move beyond 500 terabytes into the petabyte-plus range of data under management. At this scale, traditional tools and approaches to storage and data management break down. The “just buy more” approach is no longer effective.
When organizations reach petabyte scale and beyond, manual methods of managing storage fail. Data protection systems break down, and organizations struggle even to know what data they have and where it resides. Ineffective or immature data management leave valuable business information trapped in silos, unavailable to business processes and invisible to decision-makers.
Business Pressures Making Unstructured Data Management a C-Suite Priority
Several factors elevate unstructured data management to executive-level importance. Organizations face growing pressure to derive value from their vast data stores. AI is now an enterprise imperative, with executives judged on their AI initiatives. But AI success requires access to relevant data. Having data locked away in silos produces suboptimal results.
Risk management commands attention in executive suites across industries. Risk reduction presents another critical imperative given the current threat environment. Ineffective data management exposes organizations to various risks:
- Loss of access to data due to ransomware attacks that shut down operations.
- Data exfiltration risks. Criminal hackers can us stolen data to launch sophisticated attacks against organizations or their clients’ networks. This results in mitigation costs, legal expenses, and reputational damage.
- Regulatory compliance requirements vary by industry, but all organizations deal with regulations related to data protection, management, use, and storage location. Government requirements for data residency add complexity to compliance efforts.
The Market Gap This Research Addresses
DCIG recognized the growing need for organizations to manage their unstructured data. It also recognized the need for a mental model that would help organizations understand their requirements and evaluate their capabilities. The DCIG “7 Pillars of Unstructured Data Management” framework provides a cohesive, vendor-neutral, actionable model for understanding the data management challenges faced by organizations today.
IT leaders and business executives can use this framework to:
- Assess their organization’s data management maturity
- Identify gaps in data management capabilities
- Develop informed strategies for managing unstructured data
- Evaluate solutions
- Make informed decisions on technology investments
Solution providers can use this framework to:
- Help customers understand requirements
- Explain where their offerings fit in the unstructured data management space
- Explain the benefits they offer
- Guide product development by identifying capability gaps
- Identify partnership opportunities with complementary solutions
DCIG’s Research Approach
DCIG built on its prior research into various aspects of unstructured data management through focused interviews of 17 solution providers. The goal was to identify key features, capabilities, and definitions of unstructured data management.
Clipperton developed the first draft of the seven pillars concept, addressing all features and capabilities that emerged from these conversations. Follow-up meetings with the solution providers validated the model and approach. Based on that feedback, DCIG is creating a technology report on the seven pillars framework. This report will be available for licensing by solution providers in the second half of 2025.
How Technology Providers Can Engage with DCIG
DCIG offers several engagement opportunities for solution providers.
Solution providers can:
- License the DCIG “7 Pillars of Unstructured Data Management” technology report for customer education and internal use.
- Engage DCIG to produce Solution Profile reports that explain their solution’s benefits in terms of the 7 Pillars framework.
- Engage DCIG to conduct executive interviews. DCIG will publish videos of the interviews on the DCIG YouTube channel. DCIG will also publish blog articles derived from the interviews. Its clients can reuse this content to enhance their outreach to customers.
- Engage DCIG conduct webinars based on the 7 Pillars framework.
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To learn about DCIG’s future research and publications, see the DCIG Editorial Calendar.
Technology providers interested in licensing DCIG TOP 5 reports or having DCIG produce custom reports on their behalf, please contact DCIG for more information.