How to Avoid the Headache of User Mailbox Quotas Email Archiving Top Four Storage Management Challenges and Solutions
Executive Summary Corporate email contains business critical information which is relied on by organisations of all sizes to operate. Email Archiving has rapidly established itself as the systematic process that stores and protects the data contained within email messages and their attachments. This results in a secure archive and emails that are always widely accessible for searching and retrieval. The impetus to implement Email Archiving has changed over the last few years and is now driven by more than solely compliance issues. With the exponential increase in business email communication, today more than ever, organisations are challenged to deliver efficient storage management that can provide extensive benefits to both IT departments and end-users. This whitepaper concentrates on effective storage management with a particular focus on the management of PST files the top four challenges and solutions that every IT Manager should know. 2
Table of Contents 4 Introduction 5 From Mailbox Quotas to PST Files Exploring Storage Management 7 Storage Management: Top Four Challenges and Solutions 7 Disaster Strikes 8 Searches Take Too long 9 Limited Access 10 Mailbox Quota Restrictions 11 Summary 12 FuseMail Hosted Email Archiving 1 (877) 563 4078 sales@fusemail.com +44 (0) 1752 358400 uksales@fusemail.com 3
Introduction mail is fast becoming one of the most valuable E assets an organisation owns. It is a key business tool that retains a wealth of business critical information which must be available at all times. For IT Managers, there is pressure from senior management and, increasingly, employees - who are usually the first to complain in an instance of outage. Over the last 5-10 years business email volume has grown dramatically and studies by research groups, including Gartner and Radicati, predict this is only set to increase. Organisations of all sizes now have an urgent need to effectively manage and maintain one of their most vital communication networks. EMAIL ARCHIVING SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE (SAAS) VS. ON-PREMISE Businesses traditionally invest in software solutions or appliances in order to prevent specific problems: archiving, security breaches, data loss, non-compliance and legal liability to name a few. Unfortunately, these on-premise solutions bring problems of their own. They drain IT resources and budgets and create single points of failure within the network. Hardware and software is difficult to scale when business needs change and their limited lifecycles create high and unpredictable expenses. Over the past few years the motive for implementing an Email Archiving solution has shifted from solely a compliance standpoint to one that includes the need for effective storage management. Consequently, the demand on service capabilities has increased steadily and organisations are turning to the benefits of SaaS. Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), scalability, and uninterrupted access to email are just some of the reasons a Hosted Email Archiving solution is rapidly becoming the most popular choice with IT Managers. Search, review, recover Email Archiving has rapidly established itself as the systematic process that stores and protects data contained in email messages and their attachments so that it is widely accessible for searching and retrieval. The traditional method of Email Archiving utilises on-premise hardware and software to capture email from the existing mail store. The inherent issue that lies with the conventional method is that email is still onsite and growing at a staggering rate. With the latest advancements in cloud technology, hosted email archiving has presented itself as a better option with widespread advantages over on-premise alternatives. Data is stored offsite inside a secure data centre that scales effortlessly with the increasing demand for email storage. Reasons to archive The majority of organisations are motivated by one or all of the following four reasons to archive: Storage Management - facilitating secure storage and total control of email Regulatory Compliance meet legal requirements effortlessly ediscovery and Litigation the ability to produce a secure audit trail Archive Access anytime, anywhere availability to business knowledge stored in emails As archiving has become a significant part of the email architecture; better management of PST files has emerged as a major consideration. This whitepaper will concentrate on effective storage management with a particular focus on PST files the top four challenges and solutions every IT Manager should know. 4
From Mailbox Quotas to PST Files - Exploring Storage Management Storage management is at the heart of Email Archiving. If regulatory compliance and ediscovery initiatives are to be met, and the end-user experience is to be a positive one, then storage management must be strategically planned and applied. When looking for an archiving solution, functionality and security are vital considerations. Otherwise, an organisation could find itself in a situation where a time and resource draining e-discovery request could cripple the business, or in a worst case scenario, important emails have already been lost or deleted. An effectively configured archiving solution should perform an automatic, seamless transfer of email from the mail server to the archive, and facilitate rapid searching and message retrieval. For IT Managers, the result is improved mail server performance, faster delivery times and a significant reduction in the amount of time that individual users spend managing their mailbox. QUICK GUIDE TO PST FILES A PST file (with a *.pst extension) is a personal file in Microsoft Outlook to store data, including: Outlook mail, calendar, contacts and all other data used by the mail client. Users are in control of the creation and location of PST files but the majority are unaware of this fact. Microsoft Outlook s default setting asks users if they wish to auto archive every 90 days; most will click the OK button without realising that this action creates a locally stored PST archive. Many PST files have a storage limit of 2GB per user, although others are unlimited. The nearer PST files get to their maximum size, the more vulnerable they become to corruption. User mailbox quotas, the silent PST generator... Mailbox quotas are a limitation familiar with IT departments and users alike. They are usually enforced by organisations as a tactical measure to prevent explosive data growth although retention periods and lack of policies usually add to the issue. Once quotas are met users can no longer send or receive internal or external email which frequently leads to one or all of the following reactions... Complaints flooding into the IT department The creation of personal archives in the form of dispersed PST files scattered around the network Mass deletion of all sent items and attachments or other email from a users inbox or folders a nightmare for compliance reasons PST files cause complications for IT Managers who are trying to deliver effective storage management. Excessive amounts of an IT department s time and resource can be spent trying to locate PST files or recover them for users. If an organisation is archiving to meet regulatory requirements, it is important that email data is saved in an easily accessible, secure environment for easy search and retrieval which PST files, due to their very nature, cannot facilitate without a comprehensive Email Archiving solution in place. An archiving solution that offers unlimited storage as a standard feature, for example, will allow organisations to off load storage from the messaging server mailstore and tackle the issue of dispersed PST files across the network. 5
Intelligent Storage Management An Email Archiving solution that leverages intelligent storage management offers an organisation a multitude of benefits including: compliance regulations that are met, rapid search and retrieval and dramatic resource, time and cost reductions. Intelligent storage management offers an organisation a A truly effective archiving solution will also significantly improve the end-user experience by providing access to the archive via multiple platforms. A solution that can provide web-based access will give the user the freedom and flexibility to search and retrieve email on the move anytime, anywhere. 6
Storage Management Top Four Challenges and Solutions The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) estimates that the average size of an email archive within SMEs has increased 1500%, while enterprises have witnessed 600% growth. For IT Managers, storage management is one of the main complexities of Email Archiving. Getting it right can mean time, resource and financial savings not only for the IT department, but the entire organisation. Here are the top four challenges and solutions every IT Manager should know when planning or reviewing storage management. 1 Disaster Strikes The challenge: Email contains a range of mission critical information which, if lost, could have devastating effects on an organisation and raise questions such as - What pricing was agreed with the client? How was this HR issue dealt with last time? Where is confirmation of the product patent application? Without an effective archiving solution in place, emails are vulnerable to human error and unexpected disasters including fire, flood or sabotage. Another major complication is that some email data, including that stored in PST files, is saved in dispersed locations across the network which means it is inconsistently backed up and consequently unavailable for search and retrieval. Losing 100% of email can cripple a business but just 5% is enough to cause major setbacks trying to ascertain what has been lost. Email data is only protected if it is moved offsite safe from the The solution: Email data is only protected if it is moved offsite safe from the unexpected. Archiving in the cloud is the safest, most secure method to protect the wealth of corporate knowledge saved in emails. To prevent the risk of data loss move email offsite and archive securely in the cloud. 7
2 Searches Take Too Long The challenge: A simple discovery request is passed on to the IT department but it quickly causes management concerns. Without an effective archiving solution this is a manual, resource-and-time intensive task that can waste hours of business time to complete. Without sophisticated search facilities, this method is also vulnerable to human error which could negatively affect successful ediscovery. Search and retrieval is a key component Archiving solution but being fast is no longer The solution: When email data is stored in a hosted archive searches can be executed quickly and easily. Rapid searching accelerates ediscovery requests so that they can be performed effortlessly in minutes, not hours! Search and retrieval is a key component of an efficient Email Archiving solution but being fast is no longer affirmation of the best service. Logical searching, for example, by subject, title or keywords, is the intelligent way for IT departments to perform search tasks. While wildcard searching allows users greater flexibility to search by domain, sender or receiver. Substantial indexing of document types will aid easy retrieval and the best solutions on the market now offer searching on many different file types. 8
3 Limited Access The challenge: From an end-user s perspective, it can be very frustrating trying to meet a deadline but having critical information stored up in the email system and little or no access to it. In an attempt to resolve the issue and manage the associated financial costs of maintaining storage, some organisations operate policies whereby email is only saved for up to 30 days before being deleted. Other organisations only provide email access to employees onsite in the office during normal working hours. This puts pressure on employees working remotely who are then unable to access key information locked away inside the mail system and that may be critical to their responsibilities outside the office. In the end, this results in frequent requests to the IT helpdesk to have better access and visibility of email. Sophisticated archiving solutions are web based which means employees have total access to The solution: Anytime, anywhere access offers users total visibility to valuable information stored in emails. Email data, including that saved in PST files, is stored in the cloud so that employees have access to email via a web browser - perfect for those on the move. Employees have total access to their entire email archive from the palm of their hand without using any load or storage on the device or organisational mail server. 9
4 Mailbox Quota Restrictions The challenge: Restrictions on email use can be very frustrating for employees. Ultimately it means increased effort identifying what data they should archive or delete. Most will be inclined to keep everything, but if they do reach their quota and they can no longer send or receive internal or external email, a call complaining to the IT help desk is never far away. For IT Managers, there is constant pressure to manage the archive data lifecycle which is costly and time consuming to maintain. Truly unlimited storage is the only way to tackle quota limitations and manage email data The solution: Truly unlimited storage is the only way to tackle quota limitations and manage email data growth. An Email Archiving solution that is infinitely scalable will benefit the entire organisation from the IT department to the CEO. For example, employees will benefit from uninterrupted email use so they can continue working, while the IT department experiences reduced pressure and drain on precious resources. An Email Archiving solution with unlimited storage radically improves business productivity and keeps storage management simple. 10
Summary Organisations are increasingly realising that Email Archiving is no longer an expense, but a justified cost of doing business and insurance against possible legal or compliance repercussions. An Email Archiving solution that centres on intelligent storage management offers an organisation a multitude of benefits, including: a reduction in PST files, an improved end-user experience, and dramatic resource, time and cost reductions. The top four storage management solutions presented in this whitepaper represent just a few of the added-value features Hosted Email Archiving offers an organisation. Businesses that leverage the cloud to archive valuable corporate data repeatedly find that the benefits go beyond those they had expected when they first implemented the solution to find out more contact FuseMail. 11
FuseMail Hosted Email Archiving FuseMail offers a Hosted Email Archiving solution. The service is completely web-based providing rapid and effective searching across single and multiple mailboxes or the entire archive. Hosted Email Archiving moves business critical email offsite to a safe and secure environment and provides end user access from anywhere via the web. This approach has dramatic benefits for IT departments saving time, resources and the financial costs associated with maintaining email storage; which would ultimately still be vulnerable to human error, fire, theft or sabotage using traditional methods. If the unexpected happens or your organisation is faced with a compliance or ediscovery issue, it is vital that email data is available to be rapidly searched and easily retrieved. Features and Benefits Archives ALL email - internal and external End-user and remote access via the web Full text indexing - including headers, subject, body and attachments Rapid, logical searching across mailboxes and the entire archive Advanced ediscovery - apply legal holds, custom tags and comments on searches Truly UNLIMITED storage - no quotas or fair usage policy FuseMail FuseMail is an advanced managed email solutions provider that for more than 20 years has been ensuring the secure and reliable delivery of corporate email messages. Providing email solutions to more than 25 million mailboxes, FuseMail offers a range of cloud-based services including sophisticated spam and virus filtering, email archiving, encryption,continuity, hosted Microsoft Exchange and hosted webmail. FuseMail provides award winning, comprehensive solutions that are expertly delivered and supported by dedicated teams in Canada, the United States, the UK and Ireland ensuring clients receive optimal performance and guaranteed peace of mind. Learn more about VaultSmart Hosted Email Archiving at: /managed-email-services/email-archiving/ 12