Email archiving solutions offer several key benefits for small businesses, from maintaining regulatory compliance to improving productivity and protecting data. By knowing how to archive email records for small business, managers clean up active mailboxes while leaving emails available and retrievable.
When choosing an archiving solution, businesses have various options. The right solution will depend on business needs. For instance, consider whether the organization will need to archive email messages from multiple platforms. Additionally, consider regulatory requirements, as well as how much granular control the organization will need.
Two popular email archiving solutions include the Microsoft 365 Business Standard email archive and eGovernance archive. Each solution offers significant benefits for small businesses. Organizations should carefully evaluate their needs and budgets as they select the archiving solution most suited to their purposes.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard Email Archiving
Microsoft 365 Business Standard offers email archiving as part of its cloud-based productivity suite. This option is scalable, easy to set up and use. And it offers important email security and compliance features. With Microsoft email archiving, business users can:
- Access archived email messages from Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop app or Outlook mobile app.
- Search archived email messages using keywords, filters, and advanced query syntax.
- Apply retention policies to archived email messages to automatically delete or preserve them based on predefined criteria.
- Place archived email messages on hold to prevent deletion or modification for legal or investigative purposes.
- Export their archived email messages to a PST file or an Azure storage location for backup or migration purposes.
However, Microsoft email archiving does have several limitations that small businesses need to consider. For example, it does not support third-party email platforms or applications, such as Gmail or Thunderbird. And it does not provide granular control over archiving policies, such as excluding certain folders or attachments from archiving.
Additionally, certain archiving features remain tied to Microsoft licensing levels. Consequently, organizations may not benefit from uniform coverage throughout the organization. Since companies often choose to adjust licensing based on job functions, this can leave part of the workforce without adequate archiving features.
eGovernance Email Archiving
Like the Microsoft solution, eGovernance email archiving offers immediate scalability and 24×7 access to archived email messages. Powerful search capabilities aid users and eDiscovery efforts, and organizations can apply retention policies and automated holds. Also, important security controls keep the archives secure and compliant.
In addition, the eGovernance solution provides critical features not available through Microsoft. For instance, eGovernance:
- Supports multiple email platforms and applications, from Microsoft 365 to Gmail, Thunderbird and more.
- Provides granular control over archiving policies, such as excluding certain folders or attachments from archiving. Organizations can also apply retention rules based on keywords or metadata.
- Offers advanced features such as deduplication, compression, analytics, auditing, and reporting.
- Provides uniform coverage regardless of Microsoft licensing level. This means that discovery services and policy-based retention remain consistent across all enterprise and business licensing levels.
eGovernance does require some technical expertise to implement. Businesses will achieve optimal results when partnering with eGovernance consultants. However, users will find the system easy to use. Even beginners can perform sophisticated searches of their archives without memorizing Boolean syntax and statements.
How to Archive Email Records for Small Business with Expert Help
As organizations decide how to archive email records for small business, they should look carefully at their email environment and business needs. They should also review retention needs and regulatory requirements.
Whether organizations choose Microsoft or eGovernance for email archiving, the archiving consultants at eMazzanti and Messaging Architects can help. As Microsoft partners, and with deep expertise in eGovernance, they will ensure that organizations optimize the archiving process to support business goals.
Download Microsoft 365 Licensing Roadmap
eGovernance Archiving Solutions
Meeting the needs of organizations struggling with information bloat or wishing to retain independent discoverable copies of important information, eGovernance Archiving provides fully managed and policy driven access for auditors and end-users.
