E-mails and instant messages put organisations in compliance jeopardy

By Jessica Twentyman

Most organisations are yet to wake up to the impact on their records-keeping policies of electronic files, especially e-mails and instant messages (IM), according to a recent report from AIIM, the enterprise content management association.

Despite the increasing role played by e-mail and IM in court cases and regulatory inquiries, most organisations still fail to recognise and retain them as crucial sources of evidential content.

In a recent survey of US and European companies conducted by AIIM, fewer than one-quarter (21%) responded that they archive e-mails in their record management system or have dedicated e-mail management software. That is despite the fact that an estimated one-fifth of the unstructured data in their organisations is accessed via e-mail or e-mail attachments.

Instead, some 53% of respondents rely on back-up files, instead of true archiving, and one-quarter admitted to not archiving their e-mails at all.

In addition, just over half of companies surveyed use instant messaging in the office and admit that they keep no historical records of IM exchanges with outside parties, such as customers and suppliers.

It is hardly surprising, then, that when asked if they though their storage strategies could survive legal scrutiny, less than half were confident that they would.

Even those that do observe strict retention policies are in danger, says AIIM. That is because, of these, more than three-quarters (80%) fail to destroy these records after a set period of time – a process that could limit their legal disclosure liabilities, should they be presented with a case or dispute by legal and regulatory authorities.

It is time for companies to recognise that best practice in records management has moved on, says Doug Miles, managing director of AIIM UK. “Records management processes have for centuries revolved around paper documents and the physical space needed for storage,” he says. With the picture changing so quickly, he says, “policies need to be resolved between records managers and IT departments, and if necessary, investments made in information management systems.”