E-mail Chat Causes Corporate Data Overload

Companies at large are unable to find the reason that makes it necessary to hoard huge amounts of data and not have enough storage room on their networks, noted a new report.

The report says that many organizations blame the new compliance policies such as Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley for the growing demand for storage space. As a result, they have to hold additional data for extended time periods. However, Detica, a consultancy firm, thinks the cause of this problem could be more related to the internal behavior of an organization.

According to Detica, employees' use of e-mail for chatting and exchanging photos and jokes is the real reason for overload of corporate data.

Head of Data Stewardship at Detica, Chris Saunders, said in a statement that the practice of talking directly to someone on Web 2.0 has been stopped. Now people normally communicate through e-mail even with someone who may be in the office premises. PC PRO published Saunders' statement on November 27, 2007. The use of e-mail for office fun, group discussions after office hours, social chats, or to distribute heavy digital files with MP3 files, photographs, or cartoon jokes is common, Saunders pointed out.

He explained that while the use of e-mail for such purposes may not be wrong in itself, it gives a reason for data to mount up fast, especially when employees also e-mail huge PowerPoint files every time there is a change in the presentation, however small. Vnunet published this in news on November 28, 2007.

Companies seeking a solution to the problem could encourage its staff to clear junk e-mails as well as large, inessential and obsolete files at intervals from their stores of personal data, Saunders said. They should also train their employees on right data management, he stressed.

According to Saunders, there is an advantage in getting employees to recognize the challenge and accustom themselves to the responsibility of handling their own data hoards. This would not only streamline the server's performance but also help to arrange a more up-to-date and organized data archive that could serve effectively in business intelligence, reported PC PRO.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

» SPAMfighter News - 12/10/2007