Email Archiving
Email Archiving - It's More Than Just Saving Your Emails
When hearing the words "email archiving" many often think of saving their reviewed emails to specific folders or making sure that they keep their inbox clean by deleting files after they have been read. While both of these are certainly a part of email archiving, there is so much more to true email management than just moving emails around or deleting them.
In a business environment it is often critical not just to archive your emails, but to back them up as well. With three basic methods available for email archiving, the method that you select will certainly have different levels of cost associated with them as well as having different levels of maintenance requirements and risks from fire and water damage or cyber attacks. Three distinct methods for archiving emails are:
- On-site management
- Software-as-a-Service contracting
- Using a free hosting service
On-site management
Many major corporations with deep enough pockets to support their own specialized IT department and the associated hardware, software, and servers elect to control their email archiving internally. With the highest level of control, this method also requires the company to take on all of the associated risks that come along with managing their own email archiving system.
Some of the concerns that one needs to address when making the decision to bring their email system in-house, in addition to having to purchase the hardware and software themselves, are issues like backing up the system regularly, protecting the hardware with the installed software from fire and water damage, and managing firewalls and using anti-spyware programs to protect against cyber threats. With today's mobile applications placing additional demands on tradition computer systems setup to network office computers, there are far more ways for hackers to look for ways to sneak into your system today with WiFi and mobile apps.
Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) offsite email archiving
In the middle of the three options is the ability to contract with an outside firm to manage your email archiving for you. For a fee that is significantly less than the cost of developing your own internal hardware/software email system, there are companies that specialize in helping you to have a much more secure system than one can expect from a free hosting service. Using file encryption methodologies, secure firewalls, and maintaining anti-spyware resources far superior to free hosting sites, they provide a level of protection to your email archiving that is simply not available from free hosting sites.
Free hosting sites
Many of the major search engines offer some type of associated email system along with their service to attract others into using their search engines. One only needs to read the fine print in their disclaimers to know that one assumes all of the risks from cyber attacks when they use a free hosting service. Although efforts are made to keep these systems free from cyber attacks they are also a prime target for many hackers as well. The number of people that have their email archives and logins hacked surprises most people when they hear the numbers. It only takes getting bitten once to know that there are better ways to manage email archives than going the free route, but they are however free.