The use of technology as a means of business communication has increased exponentially in recent years. Electronically stored information (ESI) has become a major source of business records, and any organization that uses ESI - from email to word processing to instant messaging - must manage those records. With that responsibility comes two basic issues: what to retain, and how long to retain it. How can organizations avoid retaining everything indefinitely, yet be confident that they are keeping all the records they need for a reasonable and legally defensible period?
When establishing archive retention periods, organizations must consider their legal obligations and business requirements. Next, they must establish official policies for retention. Finally, they must follow those policies and in so doing, they would be well advised to consider the use of tools to help with the tasks of archiving, retention, and discovery.
This paper explains best practices for establishing effective archive retention policies.
CIO Research Library
