If you are still to implement an email archive system in your company, you need to understand every aspect of this service. However, the most important information you should be aware of is the email archive models in which these services come in – journaled email archiving and hosted email archiving.
About Journaled Email Archiving
Journaling emails is the process of saving electronic messages, be they emails or instant messages. This process received a lot of attention after archiving emails became a business concern due to compliance requirements set by a number of laws.
Major companies, including some big names have been fined because they couldn’t produce email transmissions when requested. The last thing you need is to follow in their footsteps.
A journal message will contain different information; the following are some of the most important details added:
• A copy of the original message
• Metadata such as the time, date, recipient and sender of the email or instant message
• The physical location of the person who sent the message or received it
• The IP address of the person who sent the message or received it
• The category of the message
There are three main designs for a journaled email archive – real time journaling, periodic journaling and rule based selective journaling. In real-time journaling, the journal message is sent at the same time the email or instant message is sent. Periodic journaling ensures that messages are archived at the enterprise level usually after business hours. As for rule based selective journaling, which is the most common type of archiving, messages are journaled if they comply with certain criteria set by an administrator.
An email archive is an application that connects with the email server to collect email messages and index them to allow quick, searchable access. Many companies choose this approach because they worry about the integrity of mission critical data and the need to retain records for regulatory requirements.
Today, most companies choose to have an email archive system, which is why the email archiving market is expected to grow to more than $3 billion by 2013.
Though journaling is similar to email archiving, it is not the same. Archiving mainly focuses on backing up communications or shifting them from your company to an off-site location. On the other hand, journaling works by capturing information about an email or instant message. However, some companies offer the journaling system as a communication interface to their archival systems.
If you want to choose between one of these two email archive models, you need to consult system professionals to assess your requirements and check the infrastructure. You can always contact email archiving service providers to ask them about the best solution for you. However, if you want an unbiased opinion, make sure that the company offers both options.
Make your choice between these two models wisely, but remember that regardless of which one you choose, you will always get the benefits offered by email archive systems.