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With the great dependence on data and computer systems, having backup is one way to ensure their safety and follow industries’ best practices. Since most of today’s companies correspond with clients, workers and suppliers via email, securing emails and keeping backup logs of these electronic messages is important. This is where email archiving comes in the picture.

What is Email Archiving?

Email archiving is a service that allows companies to keep records of their emails for a very long time. Even if users deleted these emails from their inbox, they will remain in the database unless people in control decide to erase them from the records.

Benefits of Email Archiving

Email archiving is more than just a best practice for companies to follow. It provides users with numerous advantages such as:

• Saving Companies’ Data – One of the easiest and quickest ways to send a company’s information outside the premises is email. However, email archiving can have filters to detect words and files that shouldn’t be leaked outside. For example, if a filter is set for “report”, all the emails which have this word in their context or attachments will be saved separately and a log will be sent to the entity monitoring the emails regarding this issue.
• Storing Files – Storing files in one’s email account is very common these days since it allows easy access from any computer. Even if an email containing a file is deleted accidentally or intentionally, the email archiving system will keep a copy stored for two years more or less.
• Complying with Today’s Regulations – Today’s regulations force companies to keep a copy of their electronic data. Emails can be used in a court of law to incriminate or exonerate companies, which is why storing them is a must.

There is no doubt that this compliance software solution is definitely an important tool. However, despite implementing other best practices, companies do not put much effort into bringing in an email archiving provider. Yet, if this best practice is missed, companies put themselves into serious legal problems in the future.

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