A few months ago, Mathieu Llorens put forward a strong case for the need for data ecology. He argued that the data sector is suffering from the same mistakes as the agri-food industry, and that this could lead to infobesity and toxic data. Today’s ‘big data’ approach of collecting, storing, and accumulating massive amounts of data is under serious scrutiny. The unprecedented health crisis we are going through has also increased our ecological awareness and has highlighted the limitations of hyper-growth models.
Data minimisation is a concept that is part of a sustainable approach to digital sobriety. It focusses on the real needs of analysis, with the aim of increasing responsiveness and speed of action. In practical terms, minimisation promotes the responsible collection of data that is useable – and the selective and more intelligent processing of this data for shorter storage periods that provides fresher, more accurate, more privacy-friendly and less energy-consuming data. Here are a series of images that clearly and simply explain these concepts.
Speedier analysis
There is an obvious comparison between vehicle traffic and data. With less data, you increase the speed of processing. Your access to data is faster and you become more responsive as an analyst. By reducing data volumes to the essentials, you streamline the use of your tools. For example, for an API flow, data can be sent to the data warehouse much faster and can therefore be processed more quickly.
Improved strategic vision
Staying with the road image – the accumulation of data can considerably cloud your strategic vision. It is difficult to identify key indicators when you have an overflow of metrics flooding your analyses. By clearly defining objectives upstream, you can select the KPIs carefully and effectively – too much information kills information!
Reliable decision-making
A polluted river symbolises a flow of data carrying misleading information.
A surplus of data increases the risk of inconsistency and can undermine the reliability of the data. This in turn has a negative effect on strategic decision making. Reducing the volume of data also reduces the risk of error. A smaller flow is easier to control, clean, or even enrich with quality information.
Above and beyond efficiency, working with less data reduces our digital carbon footprint. Collecting and storing data has a significant environmental impact on the planet: processing less data saves energy. Minimised data practices also promote smarter energy consumption, for example by optimising the management of logs that are never used. Pooling servers in the Cloud also consumes less energy and is therefore more environmentally friendly.
Risk limitation
Unlike in the image, in Europe the driver is likely to receive a fine. The practice of data minimisation is part of the GDPR, which sets out (as one of its fundamental principles) that personal data collected must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed. Your aim is therefore to limit the financial risks of non-compliance. The authorities impose financial penalties of up to 4% of a company’s turnover in the event of a data breach. Reducing the volume is financially safer for yourself but also for the privacy of others (internet users) – a bit like on the road…
Reduced cost
Last but not least. You can significantly reduce costs by adopting a data minimisation strategy. As well as the financial risks mentioned above, collecting less data means that the cost of storage capacity, maintenance, human costs, etc. will also be lower. In the tough economic times ahead, streamlining is likely to be at the top of the agenda.
A few years ago, data minimisation could seem irrelevant when it came to investing huge sums of money in storage infrastructure to capture even the tiniest amounts of data. However, today it makes perfect sense. Digital sobriety is not a constraint – it’s an opportunity for brands to optimise performance. By focusing on the essential and placing ethics at the heart of their strategy, they can enter into a virtuous cycle:
Less is more.
Find out more about AT Internet’s commitment to eco-responsibility.
