In light of recent high-profile cases involving email as evidence (Intel vs. AMD, Oracle vs. SAP and the White House email scandal), many companies not currently bound by regulatory rules are recognizing the need for a comprehensive archiving strategy in order to mitigate overall legal risks

(see also: Outside email use puts companies at risk and Losing emails is difficult, but finding them may prove expensive).

eWeek just published an article about email archiving that seems to support this trend.

The article notes:

“Only about 14 percent of all corporate e-mail accounts are currently being backed up and archived for future access, but that number is going to shoot up to nearly 70 percent by the year 2011, according to a new storage industry study.”

The article further predicts a significant rise in per user mail volume over the next few years based on data from a recent Radicati report.

While this is good news if you are in the storage industry, corporate IT departments will face increasing pressure to control the impending cost escalation by exploring strategies to slow email growth as well as the implementation of tight email retention policies.

The tide may finally turn: For years, IT staffers at many companies have been told to back-off on implementing mailbox quota restrictions and retention policies especially when it comes to executive mailboxes that are often gigabytes in size. This picture will most likely change rather quickly as archiving costs mount and corporate lawyers fear hidden liabilities.

Technorati Tags: email archiving, email evidence, corporate risk management

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