Lack of investment in e-mail systems opening companies up to various threats Key findings from the research show: * 80 percent of respondents have little or no confidence in their company’s e-mail systems’ compliance with regulation and only 18 percent feel that current investment in their systems is sufficient. * 68 percent had to retrieve e-mails in the last year to resolve a compliance issue – with more than two-thirds (67 percent) being for ‘traditional’ legal reasons. This implies that all companies need to be e-mail-ready, not just those affected by regulation such as financial services. * 73 percent of respondents’ e-mail systems have never been scrutinised by a third party such as an external compliance expert. Nearly three quarters of CIOs therefore have no accurate measure of what extent their e-mail system could be leaving them open to heavy fines or embarrassing court cases. * When asked what they thought was the typical cost to a company of a law suit resulting from mis-use of e-mail systems, nearly half of CIOs estimated less than or equal to £50,000. However, there are many case studies of the cost being far greater. Just one example is Perot Systems, the European outsourcing company, that claimed it would cost more than £4 million to search five years of e-mail when defending itself in court against claims of a defamatory reference for an ex-employee. * 99 percent of CIOs feel that e-mail could have a negative impact on their company’s reputation – yet as detailed above, are knowingly not investing sufficient funds to strengthen their position.
•Date: 25th August 2005 • Region: UK • Type:
Article •Topic: IT continuity |
