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UK businesses oblivious to million-pound email bill

~ mailbox retrieval costs set to escalate, warns Kroll Ontrack ~

July 01, 2009

The average medium-sized business can incur thousands of pounds per year in hidden mailbox recovery costs (see notes to editors) as a result of inefficient backup and archive management. This is according to Kroll Ontrack, the global data management expert.

With the number of emails projected to increase from the current level of 156 email messages per user, per day to 233 by 2012, this cost is set to rise further over the next three years – resulting in a multi-million pound bill for the sector.

Medium-sized enterprises are likely to have small IT teams or one-man departments, and IT managers must be efficient with time as they have broad responsibilities. Coupled with this are budget reductions and a lack of understanding about the often hidden costs associated with mailbox recovery, such as setting up a recovery server and the time spent retrieving information from full or brick-level backups. Businesses therefore face a difficult choice between incurring such costs or not recovering the data and potentially compromising their commercial interests.

From its daily experience of helping medium sized firms manage their mailbox data quickly and cost-effectively, Kroll Ontrack estimates that the average IT administrator spends a quarter of their time dealing with mailbox recoveries, much of which could be avoided by basic archive management.

To address this, Kroll Ontrack has devised a three-point plan outlining how to achieve effective mailbox archive management:

• Minimise archive size and cost - following an initial backup, the data that is transferred to the archives should be evaluated. Data with a business, compliance or proprietary value should be retained.

• Maintain archive health – archived data is valuable. Regularly ensure archives are functioning and that the location and identification of data on the archives is documented.

• Safe erasure – data that is not archived should be permanently erased using accredited software.

Following this process will result in a smaller and more manageable archive should information need to be retrieved following data loss. Putting effective policies in place is particularly important as mailboxes are a repository for a wide variety of information, including business and financial records, contacts and calendars. Mailboxes also often hold data required for compliance purposes as certain laws and regulations require such information to be retained.

[1] The Radicati Group, Inc. (August 11, 2008). The Radicati Group, Inc. Releases ‘Email Security Market, 2008-2012’ Study, [Press release].

[2] Average figure based on 26,400 medium sized enterprises (50-249 people) within the UK (Office of National Statistics) each spending approximately £8,600 per year on email recovery

Executive quote

“It is more a case of when, and not if, mailbox data loss occurs. Not recognising that data loss is inevitable could ultimately be very costly,” said Phil Bridge, UK managing director at Kroll Ontrack. “The loss of mailbox data can dramatically impact IT efficiency as it diverts valuable resources away from other important activities. By reducing archive size initially and putting a reliable software solution in place to enable fast retrieval of mailbox data, IT managers can be confident that provide fast, effective and cost-efficient mailbox data recovery."

Technical specifications

Businesses are urged to have a recovery plan in place to prepare for the eventuality that data is lost or deleted. Ontrack PowerControls performs fast data recovery, restore and search directly from Microsoft® Exchange and SharePoint® server backups, un-mounted database files (EDB) and Information Store files.

About the company

Data Recovery (www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk)
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, Ontrack Data Recovery 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.
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: www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk ; www.krollontrack.co.uk

Contact details

Alex Clough 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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