Report: Regulatory compliance drives companies’ data retention efforts

Regulatory compliance is the main driver for companies to implement specific policies to govern the retention of electronically stored information, including emails, according to a survey conducted by Computer Business Review and a data management firm.

Among the 66 percent of respondents that had a retention policy in place, more than half cited compliance as the main reason. Risk management and mitigation were cited by just more than 20 percent of companies that have a policy.

Forty-five percent of respondents said they had a data-governance strategy in place. At about 30 percent, compliance was again cited as the top reasoning behind the strategy.

About 80 percent of respondents said the senior management at their company recognizes the impact of poor data quality, including the challenges that may arise during eDiscovery. Fifteen percent said management fails to see the connection and 5 percent were unsure of management's views.

Having a retention policy and strategy in place is important for a successful email archiving initiative, according to a recent Processor report. Citing an information management professional, the report suggested that failing to delete extraneous electronically stored information will result in higher costs and lower success rates for eDiscovery.