November/December 2009 / Features
Basic Email Management Polices
The author observes that email has become the preferred medium for inter-organizational communication, largely replacing memos, voice mails and face-to-face meetings. The result is a huge archive of stored information, made even larger by the fact it is so simple to “copy people in.” Along with this mass of stored information comes the potential for a host of legal and regulatory problems, as well as public relations and stock price problems.
This means that an effective system for managing email data is now a virtual requirement for businesses large and small. The fact that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure now require email and other electronic communications be provided in a “timely and organized manner” constitutes its own imperative, as do regulations under SEC Rule 17a-4, SOX, FERC and HIPPA.
The author suggests principles that can serve as the basis for a system of email management. They include managing employee misuse, “smart” archiving, creating email controls including a system for intercepting at-risk emails, and establishing procedures for auditing and profiling email usage and blocking and rerouting certain kind of emails “in real time.”
