Information Governance for E‐Mail and Instant Messaging*
Robert F. Smallwood · 2019
E-mail is a major area of focus for information governance (IG) efforts: it is the most common business software application and the backbone of business communications. There are good reasons to archive e-mail and retain it according to a specific retention schedule that follows organization's IG policies. The technology-agnostic policy is neutral enough to cover not only e-mail and instant messaging (IM) but also social media, cloud computing, enterprise synch and share, mobile computing, and other means of communication. Employing best practices for enterprise IM use can help mitigate its security risks while helping to capitalize on the business agility and velocity benefits IM can provide. A survey is a good place to start, but more sophisticated network monitoring tools need to be used to factually discover what IM systems are actually in use. Slack technologies became a very popular alternative to traditional e-mail and IM technologies.