CIOs lack confidence in corporate email compliance

Companies risk falling foul of costly lawsuits and strict compliance regulations because of under investment in corporate email systems, according to UK CIOs.

A survey of 100 CIOs found that 80 per cent have little or no confidence that the archiving and retrieval capabilities of their company's email system complies with new financial reporting regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) admitted they were forced to retrieve emails in the last year in order to resolve a compliance issue or for a legal case.

The misuse of company email systems by employees is also a major worry for CIOs. Almost half estimated that a lawsuit resulting from a member of staff abusing email would cost up to £50,000 as well as having a negative impact on the company's reputation.

Inadequate funding is cited as the main reason for this lack of compliance and only 18 per cent of CIOs said they feel current investment in their email systems is sufficient.

Michael Decker, managing director of email compliance vendor Cryoserver, which carried out the survey, said too many companies and their staff are unaware of the consequences of email misuse in the workplace.

"Many organisations are leaving themselves open to very humiliating and costly court cases," he said in a statement.