E-mail Mismanagement Puts U.S. Organizations at Financial Risk

According to recent research performed by AIIM's Market Intelligence Group, e-mail has become the biggest content security concern for American organizations.

E-mail plays a significant role in documenting decisions and conducting the business of an organization. It is truly an enterprise-wide, mission-critical application that affects every user in an organization. AIIM's recent study reveals that only 49 percent of survey respondents are "very" or "quite confident" that they can, if challenged, demonstrate that their electronic information is accurate, accessible and trustworthy. Thirty three percent are "slightly confident" and 19 percent of the 652 respondents are "not confident" at all.

Organizations are at risk when they don't retain important e-mails as records. E-mails should only be kept according to their value for the organization. Many organizations also underestimate compliance and e-discovery costs. In the survey, only 38 percent said they are "very" or "quite confident" that e-mails related to documenting commitments and obligations made by staff are recorded, complete and retrievable. Thirty-two percent of the respondents are "slightly confident" and 30 percent are "not confident" at all.

IDC's latest update to their "Expanding Digital Universe Report" estimates that we will have 10 times more electronic information in 2011 than in 2006, which could mean 10 times more e-mails in your inbox and on your mail server. Another survey by AIIM, Cohasset Associates, and ARMA shows that 40 percent of organizations still do not include electronic records in their retention schedules. And risks will continue to increase when volumes increase unless we get e-mail under control.

"U.S. organizations need to get their e-mails under control," states John Mancini, president of AIIM. "Our new E-mail Management Certificate Program based on best practices amongst our 50,000 associates and professional members will provide organizations with a better understanding of how to improve the control of their corporate e-mails."

"We are pleased to see that some organizations have now started to understand the risks and costs associated with e-mails," says Atle Skjekkeland, vice president of AIIM. "Thirty five percent of the survey respondents expect to spend significant or slightly more on e-mail management technologies this year compared to last year. Respondents also rated e-mail management as one of the top application interests for the next 12-18 months."

AIIM's new E-mail Management (EMM) Certificate Program provides course attendees with an understanding of industry best practices, and existing and emerging technologies for managing e-mails. The course objectives and content were defined and reviewed by subject matter experts in AIIM's Education Advisory Groups. Course materials were based on the objectives and developed by Jesse Wilkins and other industry experts at Access Sciences Corporation.

AIIM has classes scheduled across North America and also provides online courses for attendees' convenience. Students learn about e-mail capture and retention; technologies for e-mail management; e-mail storage, archiving and backup; e-mail classification; developing, implementing, and managing an e-mail policy; and governance. Attendees receive access to supporting online courses and exams, and are awarded the AIIM EMM Practitioner, Specialist and Master designation after passing the online exams (and case study for Master candidates).