The Impact Of Compliance And Risk Management On Archival Storage Strategies

Business to business transactions have become almost entirely electronic. E-mail, Instant Messaging and the Web provide the bulk of contract negotiations, order issuance and acceptance, corporate communications and marketing programs, supply chain management, service and support, and investor relations. Recent tragedies like 911, the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina have demonstrated the sudden catastrophic losses that can happen to businesses not adequately prepared. The 2005 hurricane season has produced a record 26 named storms as of November 30 and scientists and climatologists have gone on record that according to historical trends we are entering a cycle of increased natural disasters of various kinds and magnitudes. Over the last several years legislative and regulatory requirements have increased the burden on business to preserve and protect a variety of business data over varying periods with differing protection and recovery requirements. Major financial scandals and a number of recent incidents involving large-scale data loss have turned the spotlight on the management and retention of company data.

Today, organizations of all sizes and across all industries are subject to a wide range of local, national and international government and industry regulations. The most well known regulations seek to control financial records, legal information, health and safety data, e-mail, instant messages and access to personal or public records. In some cases these regulations can be very detailed, spelling out key criteria and procedures that must be met to ensure compliance.