The storage of very large volumes of email represents both an asset and a liability. There are powerful reasons for accessing stored email messages. This can include compliance with laws and regulations that require long retention periods and supervision of email. Some of these regulations might require consideration of SEC Rule 17a-4 or NASD Conduct Rule 3010, as well as the corporate governance recommendations established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Government agencies, too, must archive email messages to comply with regulations set by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Patriot Act, and other Federal and State legislative acts. For example, the laws in Florida grant state citizens the right to request copies of all public records. Those public records that must be made available can include email.  People must also receive the requested information in a timely manner. Failure to comply exposes Florida state agencies to lawsuits. Many organizations can potentially encounter the possibility of civil litigation. This resulting legal action will usually include demands for copies of archived email messages and all accompanying attachments.

Ever expanding email storage and increasingly stringent email retention requirements places the spotlight on IT professionals to come up with effective compliance strategies. This is compounded with legal regulations on storing information. Backing up data to alternate media is just not enough. Network administrators are expected to implement a retrieval mechanism that assures their company will be in compliance when presented with document retrieval requests. As with almost all technology projects, administrators will be expected to find a way to do this with the least possible expense impact to the business.  There is a fine directive with balancing corporate business strategies and effective total cost of ownership.

Operating without implementing an email archiving compliance strategy could become very expensive. Attorney Jeffrey Plotkin, a partner with the law firm of Eiseman Levine, located in New York City,  says “the cost of court-ordered searches of scores of backup tapes can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars”. Mr. Plotkin should know, considering he has 18 years of experience handling securities enforcement matters.  It isn’t the point of a company email storage mechanism containing any evidence of doing something wrong. The bigger issue is a failure of not being able to produce any and all requested records required by any legal investigation. This is why trying to piece together information manually can become time consuming and very expensive.  There is also no guarantee that this will be realistically accomplished, without an automated archiving strategy.