Data retention refers to the policies and procedures governing how long various types of data should be maintained and stored before appropriate deletion. Factors cover legal, business and compliance requirements.

How Data Retention Relates to Managed IT:

– Balancing storage costs against data utility and obligations over time.
– Setting data lifecycle stages from hot to warm to cold tiers.
– MSPs help architect retention-optimized storage infrastructure both on-prem and in hybrid clouds.

Example:

A hospital activates compliance policy-based retention on medical images residing across its private data center and cloud archive, moving the data between hot and cold tiers.

Key Takeaways:

– Rules for maintaining data for specified periods depending on type, usage patterns and legal needs.
– Non-compliance carries heavy fines and other liabilities.
– MSP consultants guide cost-optimized retention infrastructure.
– WPG storage solutions balance availability, protection and TCO.