You've no doubt grappled with data retention issues, regarding e-mail especially. Certainly, data storage needs have exploded, and such needs are not necessarily cheap. One firm Detica suggests that in an email culture, companies that want to corral the storage problem needs to change their employees' behavior via better personal data management policies. But asking employees to check the "shelf-life" of the information they keep and regularly deleting files isn't likely to generate a warm response. A drastic solution would be technology driven rules that automatically delete files unless action is taken. Something to think about.