Conquer Information Chaos

E-Mail Management Major Focus at ECM West Event

E-mail management will be a major focus of the upcoming ECM West event, November 7-9 in San Jose.  Sessions will address such topics as a case study of e-mail management within Microsoft, the legalities of e-mail management, content protection in e-mail systems, and how to evaluate an e-mail archive system.  Registration information.

Most organizations still have not differentiated between e-mail back-up and e-mail archiving strategies.  In addition, for most organizations, e-mail retention is still a one size fits all approach, not a real strategy.

E-mail Archiving and Compliance Still in Infancy

According to an upcoming survey by AIIM, most organizations still have not differentiated between e-mail back-up and e-mail archiving strategies.  The finding reinforces another from the survey--most organizations are still in the early stages of developing an e-mail management strategy, exposing a significant compliance problem.

Fewer than 1 in 5 end users truly have an approach to e-mail archiving that could be described as a real strategy (either using an e-mail archiving tool or as part of an RM process).  For the rest of end users, what passes for e-mail archiving is usually a reliance on .PST files, a reasonable back-up approach for individual mailboxes, but hardly a true e-mail archive (consider how challenging it would be to find something from thousands of .PST files in the event of a discovery requirement).

This finding is consistent with past AIIM surveys, and brings to mind a comment on one of the past surveys..."What passes for e-mail archiving in my organizations is the creation of massive honking .PST files that no one knows what to do with."

How does your company/organization archive its e-mail? (Choose one)
E-mail is archived as part of the backup process		439	44%
Using a commercial e-mail archival tool		102	10%
Outsourced Service		28	3%
As part of a records management program		92	9%
We don't archive e-mail		182	18%
Using .pst files		151	15%
Total		994	100%

At Best, E-Mail Retention is One Size Fits All

According to an upcoming AIIM survey, over 60% of organizations leave e-mail retention up to individual users.  29% arbitrarily save e-mail for a pre-determined time; better than nothing, but falling far short of a true retention strategy based on the content of the e-mail.

For most end users, good intentions are about as far as it goes when it comes to serious e-mail management.

Which of the following definitions comes closest to the definition of e-mail management in your organization?
None:  Individual users are responsible for deleting, managing, classifying and saving e-mail on their desktops.		638	62%
All corporate e-mail is captured and archived for a pre-determined time period (e.g., 180 days).		297	29%
All corporate e-mail is captured and archived based upon certain metadata in the e-mail.		32	3%
All corporate e-mail is captured and archived based upon pre-determined business rules that analyze the metadata AND the content of the e-mail message itself.		25	2%
Corporate e-mail is captured and archived based upon pre-determined business rules that analyze the metadata AND the content in the e-mail message itself AND any attachments.		32	3%
Total		1024	100%

Exchange Dominant E-Mail Platform

What is the predominant e-mail platform in your organization?
Lotus Notes		145	14%
Microsoft Exchange		728	70%
Novell Groupwise		76	7%
Other, please specify		89	9%
Total		1038	100%

According to a new survey by AIIM, Microsoft Exhange is the predominant e-mail platform for 70% of corporate and government organizations, followed Lotus Notes with 14%.  E-mail has shifted over the last decade from being a conversational medium to one of the primary media used for documenting business decisions.  Half the respondents in the survey spend between 25 and 50% of their day on e-mail related activities.

The findings are part of a comprehensive survey that will be released Oct 4 by AIIM. 

Compliance Vulnerability in E-mail Systems

How would you characterize your organization's status with respect to IMPLEMENTING an e-mail management strategy (such as archiving, retention, life cycle management, disposition)? (Check the answer that best fits.)
Have not yet begun.		359	35%
Have begun to implement one or more e-mail management initiatives, but much remains to be done.		423	41%
Have completed one or more e-mail management initiatives within particular departments or groups.		120	12%
Have completed implementation of an overall e-mail management strategy across the entire organization.		129	13%
Total		1031	100%

According to a new survey by AIIM of 1000+ end users scheduled to be released October 4, organizations face an uphill fight in gaining control of their e-mail systems.  Fewer than 1 in 7 end users report that they "Have completed implementation of an overall e-mail management strategy across the entire organization," indicating a significant compliance exposure.  When added to the challenges facing organizations from unmanaged IM systems, the results point to the need for end user organizations to make e-mail management a top priority.

Instant Messaging Spreading in Business and Organizations, Raising Compliance Concerns

If you use Instant Messaging at the office indicate what type of service:
Custom service provided by my employer		79	10%
AOL Instant Messenger		30	4%
MSN (Microsoft) Messenger		163	20%
We are not allowed to use instant messaging		394	48%
Other, please specify		162	20%
Total		828	100%

According to an upcoming survey to be released by AIIM on Wed Oct 4 (contact Beth Mayhew to make sure you are on the distribution list), over 50% of end user organizations have some sort of instant messaging within their organization.  In most cases, these deployments have been unmanaged, with little thought given to the compliance implications created by these message flows.

E-mail a Major Unresolved Issue at Most Organizations...

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

We're still gathering data for our new email survey (click here to participate and get a free copy of the results) but the preliminary results point to the critical importance of e-mail in day to day business and organizational processes.  In response to the question, "On average, the percentage of time I spend on e-mail related activity..." half the respondents report that they spend between a quarter and half their time on email-related activities.

All this points to some of the data in the rest of survey that highlights the woeful state of most e-mail management systems within organizations.  One would be hard pressed to find an area within most organizations that is simulataneously so important AND managed so hapazardly.

Good Intentions--Part Duex

One of our readers of the following post asked whether we had any vertical breakouts for the following questions...vertical breakouts listed after each state in the following order...BANKING, INSURANCE, MANUFACTURING...

1. Nearly 2 out of 3 end users (63.3%) have not yet analyzed the risk they face from the mismanagement of electronic information. (B=73.2%, I=66.7%, M=61.8%)
2. 4 in 10 end users have created a central group focused on managing compliance efforts across the organization. (B=81.4%, I=75.6%, M=46.6%)
3. 42.6% say their organization “does not yet have a clear approach toward meeting compliance” requirements. (B=26.4%, I=34.7%, M=38.1%)

1. Nearly 2 out of 3 end users (63.3%) have not yet analyzed the risk they face from the mismanagement of electronic information. (B=73.2%, I=66.7%, M=61.8%)
2. 4 in 10 end users have created a central group focused on managing compliance efforts across the organization. (B=81.4%, I=75.6%, M=46.6%)
3. 42.6% say their organization “does not yet have a clear approach toward meeting compliance” requirements. (B=26.4%, I=34.7%, M=38.1%)

Not Just Technology...

There is a natural tendency for those in the technology/solutions business to think that the most significant expense for end users concerned about compliance is or should be technology.  From the end user side of the equation, the most significant compliance expense is not technology, but areas that might be considered to be "softer" investments.

In response to the question, "With respect to meeting compliance requirements, what is your SINGLE GREATEST INVESTMENT?" 741 end users  note the following...

• Documenting policies and procedures = 41.4%
• Training employees = 26.9%
• Purchasing technology = 23.9%
• Engaging outside consultants = 7.8%

This is consistent with other AIIM studies that have noted the rising importance of change management and employee commitment concerns as the scale of implementation increases.  It also indicates that smart solution providers will make sure to position their offerings not only in technology terms, but also as a means to improve policy documentation and employee training.

Good Intentions

The latest AIIM compliance survey demonstrates that users have an intuitive feel that “something” is wrong within their organizations relative to managing electronic information, but are having a difficult time mounting a systematic and disciplined approach to meeting the challenge.

1. Nearly 2 out of 3 end users (63.3%) have not yet analyzed the risk they face from the mismanagement of electronic information.
2. Less than 4 in 10 end users (38.6%) have created a central group focused on managing compliance efforts across the organization.
3. 42.6% say their organization “does not yet have a clear approach toward meeting compliance” requirements.