Badly Managed Electronic Communications a Danger
by Barbara Hurst, BOL Guru
Guru Bios
In a broader look at complications that electronic media present, a provider of control solutions for e-mail, the Web, instant messaging and handheld devices said that poorly managed electronic communications represent a serious operational and financial risk to the global banking industry. The report by Orchestria found that lack of supervision of email and other channels has created an environment that is ripe for employee theft of company information.
The task of managing electronic communication information is daunting - the report estimates that five million terabytes of data is produced globally each year (that's one trillion bytes or 1,024 gigabytes). But well-publicized incidents of email unraveling corporate credibility make the task a necessity.
Companies with poorly managed programs face not only regulatory breaches, but also massive costs in attempting to locate past communications in unstructured data storage methods, the report says. In other words, unless a communications program is properly managed, it could be difficult and expensive to retrieve specific emails or instant message conversations should an internal or regulatory investigation occur.
As the report notes, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other mandates have added a burden on financial services providers already struggling to produce email when regulatory investigations or litigation require evidence. Regulators have made it clear that a rapid, responsive and accurate retrieval system is not an option, but a required business function.
The Orchestria report gives a case study of how a global bank designed a system to provide greater control of email with minimal disruption to users.
The report is free to download at www.orchestria.com/gartner
Copyright © 2004 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 14, No. 8, 10/04
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