How to Achieve Regulatory Compliance with Automated E-Mail Archiving - Archiving Challenges (
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Archiving challenges
For many businesses, particularly
those with lean IT resources, the concept of implementing an e-mail
archiving program can seem a bit daunting. Given the sheer volume of
e-mail data and the massive storage required to handle it all—not to
mention the management of the varied industry-specific retention
periods—the very thought of archiving each and every sent and received
e-mail message can be overwhelming. Conversely, the potential risk of
not complying with archiving mandates is huge.
For businesses and industries where
high-level data security is required, this factor adds another layer to
the perceived complexity of e-mail archiving. And then, of course,
there is the issue of physical security of the archival data server
itself, which must be protected from breach and failure as well as harm
from physical hazards such as electrical surge or weather-related
threats.
When financial resources are tight,
some businesses may rely on manual archiving systems, believing that
the full-featured automated system they require may be out of their
budgetary reach. The problem with manual archiving (besides the fact
that it can be an incredibly time-consuming process), is that the risk
of human error makes it a rather unreliable practice. What happens if
the person in charge is out sick and the data dump is not performed?
What if a critical file or folder is missed? These potential failures
make manual archiving a decidedly noncompliant solution where most
regulatory agencies are concerned. To meet the standard, archiving must
be ongoing, automatic and virtually foolproof.
Finally, in order for e-mail
archiving to be truly effective, the retrieval of data must be simple
and easy. If restoring archived e-mail messages is a cumbersome and
tedious process, this can outweigh the positive benefits of discovery
cost savings, the ease and convenience of DR and the continuity aspect
of an archiving system.
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