Email Management: Are you ready to comply?
By HK Bain, CEO Digitech Systems


Despite the prevalence of regulatory and government agencies that require organizations to track email messages as a critical business record, a majority of organizations still feel that their email management efforts are below par. A recent survey conducted by AIIM, a leading enterprise content management organization, found that 76% of organizations feel that they have not yet addressed email management in a meaningful way . With new initiatives and regulations coming out, this is a growing liability for companies who are behind the compliance curve. Unsure about what acts and regulations apply to your organization? Think you’re too small to worry about compliance? You may be surprised when you take a closer look. Let’s talk about what compliance initiatives exist and who they apply to, why compliance has been a challenge for some organizations, and what to look for in an email management system.

Compliance Requirements

Within the past five years, numerous government and industry entities have enacted regulations requiring organizations to manage email messages as a critical business record. In 2001, five firms were fined more than $8.25 million for failing to produce email when required by court proceedings . Here’s a quick list of some of the better known regulations:
· Sarbanes-Oxley
· HIPAA
· SEC Rule 17a-4
· SEC Rules 31a-1 and 31a-2
· SEC 204-2
· TREAD
· NASD 2210, NASD 3010, and NYSE 342
· Gramm-Leach-Bliley
The list goes on. All require management and tracking of electronic communications such as email, some with extra considerations for personal privacy, etc.
Most recently, The Supreme Court has mandated that organizations be able to produce a record of email messages as part of the discovery process for civil procedures (April 12, 2006) . This amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), which went into effect on December 1, 2006 requires organizations to not just archive email, but also make it available in a reasonable timeframe, when required for legal proceedings. This means that simple backup systems or archived email .pst files are not enough. The organization must be able to search and retrieve email based on senders, recipients, date, and contents. Perhaps most significantly, FRCP applies to all companies and organizations regardless of industry, whether they are publicly or privately owned, for profit or not for profit, large or small.
Though many compliance deadlines have passed, companies still lack confidence in their ability to meet requirements. AIIM points out that email management remains a top priority for IT professionals in 2007.
The Radicati Group indicates that the email management market should continue to grow at a surprising rate: from $369 million in 2005 to $1.2 billion in 2009 . And the Gartner Group expects the use of email to continue to grow at a rate near 40% per year . Clearly, companies are falling behind the compliance curve.

Why Email Can be Tricky

So why has email management been so elusive for many organizations? It starts with the volume of email an organization processes. The Radicati Group indicates that an average mailbox sends and receives about 10 MB of email per day . For organizations ranging from just a few to thousands of users, it can quickly become overwhelming.
The second challenge is that organizations are not required to just archive, but to also organize messages in the event that they need to be retrieved. Retrieval is precipitated typically by either legal proceedings or regulatory review. The inability to produce an email as requested can result in stiff fines or even jail time for non-compliant companies or their officers. Think it’ll never happen to you? AIIM reveals that 24% of those surveyed indicate having to respond at least once to an email discovery request in the past year . That’s about one company in four. Feeling lucky?

What to Look For

The most sensible approach for organizations looking to implement email management is to integrate email into their overall information management strategy. For most companies, this includes a comprehensive electronic content management (ECM) system. ECM systems are growing in popularity due to the cost and time savings they can provide to organizations of any size. Designed with powerful search and retrieve capabilities, many ECM systems have email management modules to explicitly address the special concerns of the email management marketplace.
The ideal system will:
· Provide competitive advantage through cost savings related to rapid access to information and reduced security risk
· Enable full compliance with Sarbanes Oxley and other government regulations by capturing and preserving messages as they enter or exit the email system
· Preserve email messages and provide non-repudiation
· Capture pre-existing messages so that you can address regulatory time frames
· Capture email messages from virtually any email system just in case your organization decides to change email providers
· Organize all messages into a single information management (ECM) system for immediate retrieval when needed
An on demand ECM service with email management capabilities may be the right option for your organization. On demand, or hosted systems provide full functionality, but organizations access their data storage securely over the internet rather than through their in-house network. These systems are typically lower cost and less complex than traditional systems, because no hardware is needed and IT staff is not required to install or maintain the system.
With new regulations and compliance requirements deadlines passing every day, organizations can no longer afford to ignore the risks associated with failure to archive and organize email as a critical business record. The most recent changes, even extend email management requirements to all organizations. For most companies, the best way to address these concerns is through the use of an ECM system, which provides far-reaching benefits beyond just email management, including time and cost savings through improved productivity and efficiency. By managing email as part of an over-arching information management system, organizations simplify their requirements and limit the burden on IT staff and resources.
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HK Bain
HK Bain serves as the President and CEO of Digitech Systems, Inc. and oversees the management and overall vision of the company. Since joining Digitech Systems in 2000, Mr. Bain has focused on implementing a strong foundation to guide business decisions, strategic planning, business growth and organizational development. Mr. Bain holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Accounting from the University of Wyoming and is a CompTIA Certified Document Imaging Architect +.
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Quick Facts
Company: Digitech Systems, Inc.
Established: 1997
CEO/President: HK Bain
Products & Services: ImageSilo®, PaperVision® Enterprise, PaperFlowTM and a variety of document and content capturing and management products are available from Digitech Systems as a fully integrated suite, or as process specific components to match the individual needs of small businesses to major corporations.

Contact: info@digitechsystems.com
Toll free phone: 866-374-3569
Website: www.digitechsystems.com