Friday, 16 May 2008

Email Mismanagement Can Cause Financial Risk

Email is arguably the single largest source of information creation for most organizations. Yet for the majority, email is poorly managed – if at all.

According to recent research performed by AIIM’s Market Intelligence Group, email has become the biggest content security concern for corporate America. In response to this national problem, the industry association AIIM has introduced a new Email Management training program based on industry best practices for improving the control of corporate emails.

Email plays a significant role in documenting decisions and conducting the business of an organization. It is truly an enterprise-wide, mission-critical application that affects every user in an organization.

“U.S. organizations need to get their emails under control,” states John Mancini, President of AIIM.

AIIM’s recent study reveals that only 49% of survey respondents are “very” or “quite confident” that they can, if challenged, demonstrate that their electronic information is accurate, accessible, and trustworthy. 33 % are “slightly confident” and 19% of the 652 respondents are “not confident” at all.

Organizations are at risk when they don’t retain important emails as records. Emails should only be kept according to their value for the organization. Many organizations also underestimate compliance and e-discovery costs.

In the survey, only 38% said they are “very” or “quite confident” that emails related to documenting commitments and obligations made by staff are recorded, complete, and retrievable. 32% of the respondents are “slightly confident” and 30% are “not confident” at all.

IDC’s latest update to their “Expanding Digital Universe Report” estimates that we will have 10 times more electronic information in 2011 than in 2006, which could mean 10 times more emails in your inbox and on your mail server.

Another survey by AIIM, Cohasset Associates, and ARMA shows that 40% of organizations still do not include electronic records in their retention schedules. And risks will continue to increase when volumes increase unless we get email under control.

“We are pleased to see that some organizations have now started to understand the risks and costs associated with emails,” says Atle Skjekkeland, Vice President of AIIM.

“Thirty five percent of the survey respondents expect to spend significant or slightly more on email management technologies this year compared to last year. Respondents also rated email management as one of the top application interests for the next 12-18 months.”