“You can’t secure what you can’t see.” This maxim resonates deeply when it comes to dark data—the digital residue every organisation accumulates. Reflect for a moment: how well do you truly understand your data estate? How much remains lost in the shadows?
The numbers are staggering. According to Seagate’s Rethink Data Report, “only 32% of data available to enterprises is put to work. The remaining 68% goes unleveraged.” Some estimates are even more alarming: in Splunk’s State of Dark Data Report, 60% of respondents stated that half or more of their organisation’s data is considered dark. A third of respondents reported it was 75% or more.
This contradiction demands the attention of every leader. Despite investing heavily in data platforms, security, and compliance, a growing mass of dark data lies beneath layers of SharePoint folders, legacy databases, and arcane spreadsheets – costly, unmanaged, and often invisible even to those charged with its care.
The hidden cost of the unknown
When you hear “data risk,” you might think of breaches, fines, or misclassification. The financial reality is sobering: the average cost of a data breach reached an all-time high in 2024 of $4.88 million, a 10% increase on 2023. Moreover, enterprises waste up to $2.5 million annually storing dark data they never use.
However, the true threat of dark data goes beyond the cost of storage or defence. It’s about missing out on insights when decisions rely on what you can’t see.
The stakes of dark data are high. When faced with regulatory action or a strategic pivot dependent on timely insight, dark data can act against you. You can’t secure what you don’t see. Dark data is often unmonitored, uncategorised, and unprotected. Decisions hinge on partial truths, risks remain undetected, and opportunities pass by unnoticed.
This is not something that can simply be managed through an occasional “data audit.” Conducting one provides at best a momentary sense of control, akin to shining a torch into a vast cave and claiming exploration.
Clarity over clutter
Envision an environment where every data piece crucial to your strategy is visible, valued, and actively managed. Here, data is mapped not by storage location but by its connection to business-critical outcomes. Dark data doesn’t linger in forgotten corners—it’s brought into the light or purposefully retired.
This level of operational fluency involves accountability not just for what you know but for what you ought to know. With enterprise data growing at an unprecedented rate, it is ever more vital for organisations to establish control over this challenge.
Purposeful stewardship
What’s the shift? It’s not about more controls or heavier audits. It’s about adopting Strategic Data Asset Management (SDAM)—a discipline, not a checklist.
Imagine valuing information based on its role in driving outcomes instead of treating all data as equally important. What if the North Star shifted from “collect everything” to “manage what matters—and let the rest go”?
This is about transitioning from data hoarding to data stewardship, managing impact over storage. It is about confronting both a significant risk and untapped opportunity.
Illuminate your dark data
At Anmut, we help data leaders undertake this journey. For instance, we used SDAM to help a major offshore wind operator identify and prioritise the critical data assets, underpinning its £2bn business.
SDAM creates the clarity you need: making the invisible visible, aligning your data estate to business strategy, and transforming dark corners into managed, deliberate spaces.
Are you ready to turn on the light?
If you suspect your riskiest data problem is an unseen one—it probably is. With data volumes exploding, the cost of inaction has never been higher. Now is the time to manage what truly matters.
Contact us to find out what data matters most to your organisation.