In today’s digital workplace, collaboration platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint have become the backbone of business operations. SharePoint enables organizations to store, share, and manage documents across teams and departments, making information accessible and workflows more efficient.
However, as enterprises increasingly rely on SharePoint, a silent issue is driving costs higher than many organizations anticipate: cold data.
What is cold data?
Cold data refers to information that is rarely or never, if ever, accessed. It often includes:
- Outdated project reports
- Legacy documentation
- Duplicate files
- Finished Projects
- Compliance records that are never retrieved
While these data may no longer play an active role in daily operations, they continue to occupy valuable storage space within SharePoint.
Financial impact of cold data
SharePoint Online storage costs
Microsoft 365 provides a baseline allocation of storage for SharePoint Online. Once this allocation is exceeded, organizations must purchase additional storage at premium rates.
For large enterprises with terabytes—or even petabytes— of content, this can quickly translate into six- or seven-figure annual expenses.
The waste factor
The challenge is that a large portion of this spend is often wasted on maintaining cold data that delivers little or no business value.
Cold data in migration projects
The cost of moving everything
When businesses migrate from on-premises SharePoint Server or another fileserver to SharePoint Online, costs can skyrocket if cold data is included.
- Larger sites extend migration timelines
- Consulting fees increase
- More cloud storage is required
The result
What starts as a modernization initiative often balloons into a budgetary burden.
The visibility problem
Many organizations simply do not know how much of their SharePoint content is actively used versus how much is dormant. Without clear reporting, leadership continues to approve costly storage expansion without realizing that a substantial portion of spending is directed at unused data.
Operational risks beyond cost: productivity loss
Large sites with inactive data can create several challenges for organizations. They clutter libraries, make search results less relevant, and ultimately reduce employee efficiency. Beyond productivity issues, these data also introduce compliance and security risks.
Outdated or forgotten documents may still contain sensitive information, yet they are often not regularly reviewed and may no longer fall under current governance policies. Thus, cold data is not just a financial issue—it undermines information management quality.
The role of a cold data estimation report
What the report provides
A cold data estimation report analyzes SharePoint content and categorizes files by:
- last access date
- last modified
- storage consumption per SharePoint site
Why cold data estimation report matters
This insight allows enterprises to decide whether to:
- archive the data
- keep your data
- delete data entirely
Archiving solutions like ShArc
Cold data can be ofloaded to:
- Azure Blob Storage storage tiers
- external repositories
Governance policies
By enforcing defiended offload policies and cleanup schedules, organizations can prevent cold data from accumulating indefinitely
Conclusion
The problem of cold data in SharePoint is more than a technical nuisance, it is a financial liability. Organizations that fail to recognize and manage this issue risk spending vast sums on maintaining information that no longer supports business outcomes. By shining a light on dormant data and addressing it strategically, enterprises can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and strengthen compliance.
Frequently asked questions about hidden cost of cold data in SharePoint
Here we'll answer some frequently asked questions about cold data in SharePoint and hidden costs.
What does “cold data” mean in SharePoint context?
Cold data in SharePoint context refers to files that are rarely or never accessed. This can include outdated project reports, legacy documentation, duplicates, or compliance archives. Though inactive, these files still occupy costly SharePoint storage space.
Why is cold data such a financial problem for organizations?
Cold data is a financial problem for organizations because SharePoint Online charges high rates once the base storage quota is exceeded. Many enterprises unknowingly spend thousands, or even millions, each year maintaining data that adds no operational value.
How does cold data impact migration projects?
Cold data impacts migration projects because during SharePoint or file server migrations it inflates both: time and cost. It results in longer transfer windows, higher consulting fees, and expanded cloud storage needs, turning modernization efforts into expensive undertakings.
How can companies prevent cold data from piling up again?
By implementing clear governance policies and automated offload schedules, organizations can systematically move inactive content to cost-effective storage. This prevents long-term data bloat and ensures sustainable information management.
What’s the long-term impact of managing cold data strategically?
The long-term impact of managing cold data strategically is that enterprises that monitor and manage it, achieve: lower storage costs, faster system performance, and better compliance. More importantly, they maintain a data environment that actively supports business goals rather than draining budgets.