Message in a Bottle(neck)

Managing messaging and other previously simple tasks

Sticking to the rules

Sending out a message with hidden expletives might not get a company into much trouble, but sending out privileged client information, or emails with insider information will. It's also bad business practice not to have proof to backup a request or a suspected inaccuracy. That said, Enterprise Vault makes it easier for companies to stay in compliance, says Clark, who was able to see proof of the software's benefits soon after implementing it. Several years ago, the British government requested copies of two years' worth of communications with the word "price" that were exchanged between Somerfield Group and cigarette manufacturers. Clark had installed Enterprise Vault one year prior, which made the second year's request simple, he says. The first year's data wasn't as easy to corral. "It took me about five minutes to extract all the emails to or from these three suppliers with the word 'price' in it, shove them onto a CD, and give them to the lawyers," Clark explains. "It took the lawyers another six weeks to go through all the emails from the 12 months before Enterprise Vault started. They were going through all the records and everybody's desktops to see if they could find any emails."

None of his employees were forced to keep copies of their emails, or submit to compliance rules that they either disagree with or resent, says Clark. Everything runs in the background. "What we've done is removed the 2,500 different email retention policies we had. We were able to store information without monitoring what our employees were doing, but in a way that if somebody comes back and asks for information, we can produce it in a timely manner, and in a manner that will be accepted by the courts or the regulatory authority as being the truth."

Hidden red flags

When it comes to compliance, other tools present problems too. Increasingly, today's workforce expects IM and text messaging. However willing companies are to offer options, they find managing IM challenging. "Companies are struggling with IM," says Lazar. "They want to know, 'How do we keep our employees from sending files they shouldn't be sending? And then, more importantly, how do we log the conversation, how do we keep track of who communicated with whom, how do we deal with security threats from interfacing with public systems?'"

Mike Miller, director of support services for Media General, Inc.-a Richmond, Virginia-based company that owns newspapers, television stations, and interactive media properties and has about US$1 billion in annual revenues-figured this out by trial and error.

The approximately 100 people in Media General's interactive division started using IM several years ago. While it didn't impact the company's network, it did present a security problem because viruses were beginning to use IM clients as a way to sneak into company networks. Corporate productivity also took a hit since employees weren't always communicating about business issues.

Media General installed Symantec IM Manager software. The application helps the business monitor usage and lets users manage, log, archive, and secure IM traffic. According to Miller, the addition of IM Manager made it easier to give more employees IM technology. Today about 250 employees use IM to communicate with each other and with data sources outside the company. While Miller and his team don't monitor IM, they do log and archive it for 90 days. Most important, the company has saved money and server space by using IM instead of email.

"We're gaining a competitive edge over other media companies by gathering news and weather information more quickly," Miller says. "We're using Symantec IM Manager to block attachments, scan for viruses, and log. We're also using it to block and allow instant messaging access so only those people who are set up in it are allowed to use IM. It's transparent to users so we hear a lot less complaining about it."