Report: One-third of companies fail to implement email archiving policy

Contributed by Debbie Howlett (Mittwoch, 15 Dezember 2010) | Category : Email archiving

The results of a new survey from the Association for Information and Image Management show nearly one-third of companies do not have email management policies in place.

According to the survey, which polled 709 AIIM members - 67 percent of which are small- and medium-sized businesses - 31 percent of respondents said they have no email archiving policies in place. Equally concerning is the fact that 34 percent have a "delete-all" policy, while 23 percent keep all email "to be on the safe side."

Just 12 percent of respondents identify and retain email that may be relevant to litigation.

The report also revealed that 56 percent of respondents that don't have an email archiving policy in place have no confidence in the integrity of their electronically stored information. The figure drops to 28 percent for those that have implemented some form of information management.

Companies struggling to properly retain ESI is a common trend in eDiscovery, according to recent analysis of 84 cases in the United States. Forty-nine percent addressed preservation and spoliation issues, while sanctions were levied in 70 percent of these cases.