Main News Desk

E-mail mountain causes sleepless nights for Irish organisations

IT managers worry as mailbox archives grow and efficiency dwindles

June 08, 2009

A quarter of Irish firms are struggling to cope with growing e-mail archives, according to research from Kroll Ontrack, the global data management expert.

A survey of 86 leading Irish organisations[1] reveals that 25 per cent of IT executives perceive e-mail mailbox management to be their biggest data challenge over the next 12 months. This is further illustrated by the fact that Kroll Ontrack has seen an increase of almost 20 per cent in the number of requests to restore Microsoft Exchange data in Ireland over the past six months.

The survey also highlights concerns about ensuring the permanent erasure of end-of-life data, with 20 per cent stating this is an issue.

According to experts at Kroll Ontrack, the main cause of growing archives is that many organisations do not fully understand what they need to retain for compliance requirements. In addition to e-mail communications, mailboxes are often utilised as a repository for a wide variety of business information, including financial records, documents, contacts and calendars. It appears that many organisations address the importance of mailboxes as an information store by backing up, and then archiving absolutely everything, ‘just in case.’

With the number of corporate e-mails projected to increase from the current level of 156 e-mail messages per user, per day to 233 by 2012, [2] Kroll Ontrack is warning that a ‘back up everything’ policy will result in further escalating mailbox storage needs and unmanageably large archives.

Restoring and processing large volumes of Exchange data can be very time consuming and labour intensive. This can place an unnecessary strain on IT resources and have a negative impact on business preparedness so having a plan in place for quick retrieval is essential.

Organisations need to address mailbox management policies as a matter of urgency and understand what they need from this data – they will then be in a position to implement an efficient data management strategy. The starting point for this is to audit existing archives and determine what information is needed. The unwanted data should be securely erased and the remaining information stored – resulting in more manageable and effective archives that are less costly to maintain, while at the same time ensuring better compliance with data protection legislation.

Executive quote

“Many Irish organisations don’t realise that saving everything is both inefficient and ineffective. By taking some pre-emptive steps and using the latest Exchange management tools, they can reduce storage costs and improve their organisation’s competitiveness by recognising and increasing the usefulness of their archives,” said Ciarán Farrell, business development manager at Kroll Ontrack Ireland.

“With an efficient mailbox archive management strategy, organisations are also better prepared should disaster strike or if they are called upon to present information to comply with specific legislation. It is key however, that once data is no longer needed, it is erased using a recognised and accredited product – thereby ensuring it is no longer at risk.”

About the company

About PowerControls www.ontrackpowercontrols.co.uk

PowerControls performs email search and Exchange server recovery directly from Microsoft® Exchange server and SharePoint server backups, un-mounted database files (EDB) and Information Store files. It is the perfect support partner for Exchange and SharePoint by providing a fast and effective solution for recovery, search and migration.

About Kroll Ontrack

Data Recovery www.ontrackdatarecovery.ie
Through its Ontrack® Data Recovery products and services, Kroll Ontrack is the largest, most experienced and technologically advanced provider of data recovery products and services worldwide. Using its hundreds of proprietary tools and techniques, Kroll Ontrack helps businesses and consumers recover lost or corrupted data from all types of operating systems and media and storage devices through its do-it-yourself, remote and in-lab capabilities.

About Kroll Ontrack Inc. www.krollontrack.co.uk
Kroll Ontrack provides technology-driven services and software to help legal, corporate and government entities as well as consumers recover, search, analyse, produce and present data efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition to its award-winning suite of software, Kroll Ontrack provides data recovery, advanced search, paper and electronic discovery, computer forensics, ESI consulting, and trial consulting and presentation services. Kroll Ontrack is a technology services division of Kroll Inc., the global risk consulting company. For more information about Kroll Ontrack and its offerings please visit:

To subscribe to Kroll Ontrack press releases via RSS, please go to http://www.lewiswire.com/uk/index.php?client=54 and click on ‘Subscribe to RSS.’

Contact details

For further information and enquiries, please contact:
the account manager at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2050 Fax: +44 (0) 161 457 2051
Email: krollontrackuk@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

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E-mail mountain causes sleepless nights for Irish organisations

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