You need to understand email archiving

The title of this week's Editor's Corner may seem a bit obvious. How hard it is it, right? Well, it turns out that many of you don't have a clue about email archiving. In fact, a recent study by CMS Watch found that managers in many enterprise settings don't know the difference between email archiving and daily backups, and yes Virginia, there is a big difference. What's more, not knowing is significant because you are legally required to have a plan to manage your electronic records including email.

Let's start by reviewing the difference between the two concepts. You backup your files on a defined schedule to ensure recovery in the event of a disaster, whether that's caused by humans or nature. Many companies move their backups off site to a separate facility, so for instance, if there is a hurricane that wipes out your building or shuts down your headquarters, you can recover and set up your business temporarily elsewhere. But it's not just horrible weather, you need a system backup because people screw up and you need to be able to recover when they do.

Email archiving, on the other hand, involves a system where email is saved, compressed and electronically time stamped. The archiving process removes duplicate data so that you don't have to store 50 copies of the same attached document (or even 50 copies of the same email with that attachment). There is a clear audit trail and it's set up in such a way that it cannot be compromised.

The last point is very important from a legal standpoint, because you can't have a gap in the email exchange (the one that contains the damaging piece of information), nor can you go in and manipulate the email once it's in the archive. It's like a big, intelligent, electronic locked box for your email.

It's not just a sensible idea. You actually need to be able to prove to a court that you have a plan in place and that you can access a set of emails from a given person at a given point in time. The Electronic Discovery Law Blog explains a recent case where the judge ordered a company to not only produce a set of electronic records, but to explain the process by which they were maintained. That means, the judge was not satisfied that the company produced the requested set of records, the party had to explain their system.

There are a number of solutions out there to meet your email archiving requirements. You'll need to research them and find the one that meets the needs of your organization just as you do with any enterprise software purchase. CMS Watch has helped in this regard by developing a report called the "E-mail Archiving & Management Report" analyzing 14 email-management and archiving solutions. You can also check out this Buyer's Guide on NetworkWorld. - Ron