I assess data value and usage patterns, implement tiered storage solutions, and establish retention policies that prioritize essential data. Regular audits help optimize storage costs while ensuring necessary data is retained efficiently.

1. Minimize unnecessary data collection and retention. Make an audit of all the data sources and flows within your organization. Identify the key metrics used for monitoring and decision-making, then make a list of the data necessary to support those metrics. This process helps you spot data sources that may not be essential for operations or analytics, allowing you to reduce storage of redundant data. 2. Explore alternative, cost-effective data solutions that might enable you to cut costs while ensuring the quality of data practices. 3. Look into the archive period--perhaps it would be wise to extend it for less frequently accessed data? This can help strike a balance between cost efficiency and data availability.

Finding the sweet spot between storage costs and data retention means making data work smarter, not harder. Start with a tiered storage system—active data lives in high-speed, more costly storage, while less critical data is archived on affordable, slower tiers. Use automated retention policies to purge redundant or outdated data, freeing up space without impacting essential information. Leverage data compression and deduplication to maximize storage efficiency, and periodically review data relevance to ensure it still supports business goals. This layered, dynamic approach keeps storage lean and budget-friendly, while still ready for future needs.

I think that the problem of data retention starts with the fact that it is not clear who in a larger organization consumes this data. Metadata management with data lineages is usually not comprehensive enough or sometimes even non-existent. Data consumers can be in many different business areas, and an overview of all consumers often fails because they are simply not known. Sometimes it can help to back up the data and then delete it from the system and then import it again in the event of a request. Unpleasant, but effective.

Managing storage costs while retaining essential data requires strategic planning. Besides regular evaluations, compressing older or less frequently accessed data can help save space without losing valuable information. Archiving historical data to lower-cost storage solutions is also effective, especially for data that's important but rarely used. Additionally, implementing a lifecycle policy to automate data deletion or movement to cheaper storage tiers at set intervals reduces manual oversight and keeps costs predictable.