Email Archiving Keeps Track Of Your Emails: Everything You Need To Know About Email Archiving

What Is Email Archiving?

Email archiving is a systematic approach that helps to store emails and message contents so that they are quickly retrievable at a later stage, if necessary. Organizations like banks, government bodies, and large corporate offices require data permanence. Such organizations might need to reach into the repository and produce past email messages for various purposes. Such organizations must have reliable email archiving solutions in place to facilitate email retrieval.

Why Is Email Archiving Necessary?

Email archiving is necessary for various purposes.

There are policies and regulations that all businesses have to follow in terms of data retention. The conditions may differ from place to place; however, the essential requirement is all the same. An enterprise should be able to quickly produce any specific email data whenever asked by the regulatory body. The penalties for failure to do so can be costly and severe. The best way an organization can maintain its electronic records for compliance is email archiving.

Business entities also use it to protect critical data such as protocol process, data about products and services, and other customer-related data. Email archiving secures data against intentional tampering or accidental altering. It is also necessary to ensure transparency and compliant record-keeping policies. Some business entities use email archiving for e-discovery processes, as well.

Email Archiving Versus Email Backup

There often is confusion between email archiving and email backup. Though both the techniques save and protect email data, these are two different concepts. In simple terms, an email backup is a copy of a set of data whereas an email archive is a collection of historical records kept for long-term retention. Organizations use email archiving for regulatory compliance and future reference.

The primary difference between the two is that an archive holds original data that a user has already removed from its original location. An email backup is a procedure that can restore the original in the event of loss or damage of data.

Different Types Of Email Archiving

Generally, there are two types of email archiving office 365 with regards to the operator or administrator.

• Server-side email archiving: It is a centralized and automated archiving function that is independent of the end-user. It is the most common type of email archiving. The prime examples of such archive are the mailbox servers like Office 365, IMAP, Exchange, and Gmail.
• Client-side email archiving: In this type of email archive, the client sets up the archiving at his/her end, and the archiving process also falls under the responsibility of the user organization. Usually, they use a POP3 mailbox or a local email client like MS Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbolt.

There are again different types of archiving based on the kind of storage space.

• On-premise email archiving: On-premise email archiving involves the client to purchase the software and necessary hardware infrastructure to set up in the organization’s server environment.
• Cloud-based email archiving: If the business entity maintains an email server in the cloud instead of setting up appliances on-premise, it is known as a cloud-based archive.

If the business maintains a cloud-based server and also choose to keep the archive locally, some solutions also provide such means. One such appliance for email archiving, Office 365 offers the ability to do so.

Do You Need On-Premise Email Archiving?

Today, email archiving on the cloud has become popular, but many businesses prefer to have on-premise email archiving because cloud solutions can be unreliable at times.

IT managers and tech leaders opine that on-premise email archiving enables them to have total control of the archiving process. It ensures complete administration, authority, and responsibility of the archived data. Cloud-based email archiving is a cost-effective solution, but on-premise email archiving gives the business a more efficient hold on the archived data.

Should You Go For Email Archiving Open Source Or Paid Solutions?

While using premium services is always advisable, it does not mean that you only get reliable solutions by paying for them. Installing an email archiving open-source software has its benefits, especially for SMBs who don’t have a significant budget allocation for IT.

Some open-source solutions are robust and reliable and can be more than enough to meet your archiving requirements. They help to segregate client communication and other business communications. These software solutions help in storing your emails at a central repository from where you can retrieve them whenever required. If you’re thinking about using one, check the features carefully. The email archiving open-source software should provide the following benefits.

• Automatically save all outgoing and incoming emails.
• Index emails to enable better search functionality.
• Organize emails by sender, date, recipient, and subject.
• Take back-up of the archive daily.
• Cost less and ensure easy maintenance.
• Be free from viruses.
• Provide support for archiving attachments, contacts, offline PST files, calendars, and notes.

Some of the best email archiving open source software are LinuxBox, Mailarchiva, Zimbra Email, and Archiveopteryx.

The Importance Of Exchange Email Archiving

Users of popular email platforms like Outlook and Exchange also have options that they can incorporate into their system. Let’s take a look at one, in particular, Exchange email archiving, and its importance in business.

• Enables compliance of statutory regulations
• Provides evidence as support against litigation
• Improves productivity because of easy retrieval of data
• Protects intellectual property
• Reduces server space
• Cost-effective
• Helps maintain continuity in business
• Automatic email indexing
• Disaster recovery

Final Thoughts

Email archiving gives the user the peace of mind that their email messages and the data in them remain safe, even if the sender or the receiver deletes the emails from the inbox. Email archiving ensures statutory compliance and prevents legal issues. This safeguard is especially beneficial for organizations like banks and financial institutions that often need to fall back on documentary evidence such as emails to protect their interests against litigation.