E-mail Archiving: You Should Be Aware of These Misconceptions

More and more business communication is taking place via e-mail, and it has
long been common practice for contracts and invoices to be sent only by
e-mail. This speeds up and simplifies communication, especially in times when
home offices is very popular. At the same time, many of those involved are not
aware that those who do not archive their company e-mails in an audit-proof
manner will end up in hot water faster than they think.

What you better pay attention to in order to stay on the (legally) safe side
and how you can establish legally compliant and at the same time comfortable
processes in your organization with the open source solution Benno
MailArchive, you can read in the guest article by Ansgar Licher from our
partner LWsystems.

Recently, customers have increasingly reported that tax auditors have
demanded to see their companies ' e-mail archiving. The authorities are
paying more attention to this than in the past. The fatal thing about this
is that few topics are treated as neglected in IT as e-mail archiving.
However, if you don't take care of it, you're not just making some kind of
mistake; in the worst case, you're committing a crime.

This Is What Can Go Wrong with E-Mail Archiving

According to the GoBD, companies in Germany are obliged to archive e-mails
in an audit-proof manner - regardless of the industry and size. The GoBD
specifies the principles for the proper management and storage of books,
records and documents in electronic form, as well as for data access.

Unfortunately, companies repeatedly make mistakes as well as misjudgements
when it comes to mail archiving, which can have serious consequences. The most
common are:

Misconception 1: It is enough to archive everything in folders in my
e-mail program.
Correct is: E-mails collected in the mailbox, in an archive folder or the
Outlook auto-archive function do not replace proper e-mail archiving. The
reason: The e-mails are neither stored in an audit-proof manner, nor does this
storage meet the requirements of the GoBD.

Misconception 2: We are top organized, because we have copies of the
e-mails on our servers.
Correct is: This approach is not a solution. As a rule, these copies are
not audit-proof. And even if they were, it would still have to be possible to
check and verify that they are unchanged, even after ten years.

Misconception 3: I have already purchased an e-mail archiving solution. I
am on the safe side.
Correct is: It is not enough to just purchase software or an e-mail
archiving solution. In addition to the technical implementation, the
organizational environment must also be right. Both must also be documented by
means of procedural documentation.

So How Can I Avoid E-Mail Archiving Mistakes?

What sounds
complicated can be solved for example by a professional e-mail archiving like
Benno MailArchive. The open source
software archives incoming and outgoing e-mails as well as their attachments
unchanged. This happens "on the fly", additionally the text contents are
indexed in full text and made findable - independent of the file format of the
attachments. The result is tamper-proof, clear and GDPR- and GoBD-compliant
e-mail archiving.

Can E-Mail Archiving Be Integrated into My IT Environment?

Who has concerns that a software for e-mail archiving negatively affects the
existing IT infrastructure, can relax with Benno MailArchive. As with every
open source solution the interfaces are open, so that Benno MailArchive can be
integrated with any e-mail or groupware solution. The solution supports
all current e-mail standards and concepts. Among other things, e-mails can be
transferred via connectors for POP3, IMAP and SMTP as well as Microsoft
Exchange or Microsoft 365/Exchange Online or via a Milter plugin for Linux-
based mail servers.

At the same time, simple user administration is possible via the Univention
Corporate Server (UCS) - this can replace an existing Active Directory
(AD) or is seamlessly integrated with it. UCS is also the guarantor for a
quick and easy installation of Benno MailArchive. For this, the open source
software is installed as an app in the Univention App
Center with two mouse clicks. Good to know: Benno
MailArchive fits seamlessly into any existing groupware running on UCS. If
your groupware does not use UCS, Benno MailArchive can still be connected to
it.

Der Beitrag E-mail Archiving: You Should Be Aware of These
Misconceptions erschien zuerst auf
Univention.

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