How many emails do you get in a day? How are you archiving them? Do you have enough space? Email has become the go-to communication and documentation tool in business. We don’t just read our emails; we save them as a form of record.
The typical corporate user sends and receives about 125 emails a day, according to industry estimates. At Marco, we recently had to assess our usage because our corporate emails were taking up too much space. It also can be a compliance and productivity issue. I know we’re not alone.
Businesses receive, send and store large and increasing amounts of information. An analysis conducted by the University of California at Berkeley found that 93 percent of all information today is created in an electronic format and this is affecting our record-keeping. More than 90 percent of records created today are electronic, according to estimates from the American Records Management. The challenge? Most of it – more than 70 percent – is never printed.
So, how does an organization get a handle on email storage? Here are a few steps your organization can take to reduce email storage, simplify compliance and even foster productivity for mobile users:
- Understand your obligations for document storage.
Every business has to retain tax documents – like those commonly emailed receipts – for seven years. It’s important that every organization understand their obligations to retain certain types of data based on government statute, industry requirements and even legal precedents.
Many industries, such as healthcare, finance, education and government, have stricter requirements that require them to retain information for extended periods of time. These items should be removed from the email system and saved in a centralized document management system such as M-files. This is the most essential step that organizations – and their employees – must take. It’s not smart or safe to ”store” these items in the email system.
- Create an archiving system.
Establishing an archive threshold is the first step to managing the electronic information. This allows the information to be available for users while freeing up space on the server. Barracuda makes an industry leading device that enables organizations to automate the archiving process. You set the parameters on when items get archived and Barracuda moves the items when they hit that threshold.
When setting a threshold, organizations should first consider how much space they wish to dedicate to email storage on their server and how much space they typically use in a year. This may feel like a culture change for some organizations so setting an extended archive threshold such as six months or a year may be best first step.
- Set guidelines for deleting items.
Items cannot simply be archived. At some point, they need to be deleted to make sure the archive is manageable and ensure emails are not taking up unnecessary space. Employees should be encouraged to delete old or unused emails. Organizations also can use the Barracuda device to automatically delete emails after a certain period of time. The time limit is often based on email usage and it’s not uncommon for emails to be deleted after a year.
- Develop a corporate policy outlining expectations.
Employees use email in varying ways to do their jobs. I know we have employees with hundreds of subfolders in their email to organize their projects, customers and tasks. It’s essential that employees know what items need to be filed in their company’s centralize document system so they can comply. Outlining these in a policy and reviewing it at least annually will help organizations comply with regulations and their system standards.
It is important employees also understand the reason for establishing the email retention and destruction procedures, which in most cases, is primarily driven by cost as well as compliance. Storage is not free and items saved in unregulated areas do have ramifications on the organization. Saving emails to a personal folder on your local hard drive, for an example, means the items may not get backed up. Saving emails as a PST on the server allows the items to be backed up, but the file still takes up space. If employees understand the goals, they are more likely to help you reach them, rather than sidestep the process.
Document retention and destruction is becoming a key challenge for businesses of all sizes, across every industry. Best practices and technology are being developed to aid in this electronic epidemic - that just begins with email. We’ll be talking more about this.
