LONDON -- 08/19/08 --
GFI Software, an international IT security and
messaging software developer, today announces new independent research into
the status, progress and perception of email archiving uptake within UK
small to medium sized enterprises. Of the 408 IT managers, directors and
consultants surveyed, 49% have fully implemented email archiving in their
organizations and the majority of those respondents (31%) are regularly
taking less than one hour to find business-critical email correspondence on
request.
However, the primary concern evident from the research is that of the
remaining 51% of organisations who have not implemented email archiving, it
appears that this is principally through lack of education. With budget
restraints being the most popular reason for not purchasing (28%), a
further combined 32% of those surveyed perceive it as unnecessary to their
particular needs or feel too ill-informed to purchase.
David Vella, GFI's Director of Product Management, comments, "Email
archiving is clearly proving its worth and we are delighted to see its
uptake so pervasive and successful, and especially that only 1% of the
people we surveyed reported any negative experiences or attitudes towards
email compliance. However, while the lack of appreciation of its utility is
concerning, what is perhaps more alarming is the relatively widespread
assumption that email archiving is not important or necessary to the
business."
Vella explains, "Wherever email is the principal form of communication
within the business, email archiving is essential. Too many businesses fail
to realise that each email communication sent or received is probably the
only record they have of important transactions with a customer or between
members of staff. According to Osterman Research, email contains nearly 75%
of the information that individuals use on a daily basis, making the sheer
amount of corporate knowledge stored in email enough to justify its
safekeeping over long periods of time."
Vella concludes, "Email archiving is a function that should run through all
company departments -- obviously storage, backups, problematic and corrupt
PST files, overloaded email servers and performance are the IT department's
major concerns, while the legal team sees email as an essential factor in
its discovery, disclosure and due diligence strategies. Indeed, most of our
respondents who have implemented email archiving are doing so for
compliance or for ensuring they have a full paper trail should there be any
form of investigation. And of course, email archives boost overall
productivity for employees company-wide when the need arises to access
their email from anywhere in the world. With such a high proportion of
companies already seeing the benefits of email archiving, educating the
remainder of the necessity and advantages of the process is essential."
A copy of the survey results can be found here:
http://www.gfi.com/documents/rv/GFIarch-survey_UK.pdf
About GFI
GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for
network administrators to address their network security, content security
and messaging needs. With award-winning technology, an aggressive pricing
strategy and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is
able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity
encountered by organizations on a global scale. Founded in 1992, GFI has
offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong and Adelaide which support
more than 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company
with over 10,000 partners throughout the world. GFI is also a Microsoft
Gold Certified Partner. More information about GFI can be found at
http://www.gfi.com.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
