10 reasons to archive e-mail.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis

According to Osterman Research, employees now use e-mail as a "21st century filing cabinet in which they document their activities, store tiles and important communications, and conduct business."

With this in mind, companies that back up but don't archive e-mail--enabling messages to be quickly searched, restored, and used--may be making a huge strategic mistake. In a recent position paper, "Archiving Email for Compliance and Competitive Advantage," Osterman gives 10 key reasons to archive e-mail:

1. Compliance and legal discovery-E-mail records are being used more to incriminate or protect organizations. A comprehensive archiving solution that facilitates data management and search can help companies be better prepared in the event of a discovery process.

2. Storage management--Hardware-based solutions provide centralized storage for all e-mail accounts, reducing backup time, hardware requirements, and media costs.

3. Risk management--Archiving all e-mails in a central location enables organizations to quickly produce a paper trail to help resolve disputes and prevent litigation. An archiving solution can also help to deter employees from using company e-mail inappropriately, while eliminating the need for users to store e-mail on personal media, risking the loss or theft of company data.

4. Knowledge management--Archlying ensures that corporate knowledge is retained and stored in an accessible format while protecting the integrity of the database by preventing users from altering or deleting files.

5. Employee productivity--Archiving e-mails in a central, searchable repository saves search time and enhances competitiveness by providing instant access to the company's knowledge base.

6. Business continuity--Automatically archiving employee e-mail ensures that organizations retain access to e-mails when employees leave or systems crash.

7. Improved network performance--Archiving e-mail on a dedicated device can eliminate the need to keep old mail on the server, thereby improving server...