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What is Enterprise Information Archiving and Why Does it Matter?

April 12th, 2023

Written by Charlie Snedden, Sales Engineer

Blog, Enterprise Information Archiving

Enterprise Information Archiving: we’ve mentioned it before. Our Continuity Replay solution falls into this category, but why should you care? 

What Enterprise Information Archiving is… 

The solutions that fall into the Enterprise Information Archiving (EIA) category are responsible for preserving and managing an organization’s data. This can include anything from email messages and documents to instant messages and social media posts to website content and voice. The goal of EIA solutions is to ensure that the data is stored securely, can be easily searched and replayed, and is in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. 

The benefits of using EIA solutions are numerous and include cost savings, improved data security, streamlined compliance, enhanced data accessibility, and overall better data management. These benefits are covered in more depth in the following paragraphs. 

What features are typically in Enterprise Information Archiving solutions… 

There are five typical features that make up every EIA solution, so they meet the basic needs of the business required to store that data: 

1. Archiving – capturing and storing data (email messages, instant messages, audio, video, social media, documents, etc.) in a central location for long-term retention. 

2. Search and replay – the ability to easily search and replay archived data, often through keyword searches or advanced search features.

3. Compliance – ensuring that archived data meets legal and regulatory requirements, such as data privacy and retention regulations.

4. Data management – managing and organizing data within the archive, including the ability to categorize, tag, and classify data for easier retrieval.

5. Preservation – ensuring the long-term preservation and accessibility of archived data, often through formats that won’t become obsolete.

Developers and sellers of EIA software also incorporate other features to align with different data sets and different industries. Some other features that EIA solutions can have include: 

eDiscovery

Retention purge

Legal hold

Records management 

Data migration

Encryption at rest

User access controls

These features are not guaranteed in every EIA solution and are specific to certain industries and businesses developing, selling, and supporting EIA solutions. 

Why Enterprise Information Archiving is important… 

Every business is unique and different industries are subject to different regulations surrounding certain types of data. At Wilmac, we have found that Continuity Replay is most relevant to banking, finance, healthcare, and insurance industries, which are heavily regulated and are typically subject to lengthy retention periods for their recordings (voice, screen, messaging or video). 

These solutions are critical to the integrity of these organizations due to several reasons, and include several benefits when using:  

  1. Streamlined compliance – Regulatory requirements in these industries mandate the retention of certain types of data, like we just mentioned with voice data specifically. These mandates can also relate to privacy and security. EIA solutions can help ensure that organizations comply with these regulations and avoid the associated fines, penalties, and other legal repercussions. 

2. Enhanced data accessibility & litigation readiness – EIA solutions can provide easy and efficient access to archived data, making it easier for organizations to find the data they need quickly and efficiently. Organizations may be required to produce electronically stored information (ESI) for legal or regulatory inquiries. EIA solutions can help organizations that are being investigated quickly and easily locate and produce the necessary data. Other organizations can use these solutions to help improve productivity and decision-making by providing access to historical data and insights. 

3. Cost savings – EIA solutions not only mitigate the risk of having to pay hefty fines associated with being unable to produce recordings, they can also help organizations reduce storage costs by moving data that is infrequently accessed to less expensive storage. 

4. Data security – Sensitive data is secured and unauthorized access or data loss can be prevented when using EIA software. By ensuring that data is stored securely and that access is limited to authorized users, EIA solutions can help organizations comply with data privacy regulations and protect against data breaches. 

5. Better data management – Categorizing, tagging, and classifying data is made simple through tools within EIA solutions, which can allow organizations manage their data more effectively. This can make it easier to find and organize data, and can help them gain insights from that data more easily. 

Enterprise Information Archiving is a critical piece to regulated industries’ technology portfolios. Compliance is typically the driving factor for the purchase of these types of solutions, but they can go even further for organizations who are looking to garner insights from their legacy data or ensure their data is in the location of their choice and not locked up somewhere else. 

At Wilmac, we classify our Continuity Replay with Extraction solution in the Enterprise Information Archiving since it’s specific to recordings and their associated metadata. It has the exact goals, features, and functionality associated with Enterprise Information Archiving. 

If your business is looking for a solution to securely manage your recordings, please contact Wilmac. >>

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