The new multipurpose cloud archiving solution, launched by email management multinational Mimecast, can be used to ensure effective archiving of the email communications and documents that function as a company’s “digital memory”, says Mimecast sales enablement manager Nick Saunders.

The Mimecast Cloud Archive solution caters for the architectural and technology changes brought about by the increased use of cloud collaboration systems, in-house and externally, to ensure the resilience and retention of company information.

However, the most important capabilities of the solution are very fast access from any device to support collaboration and productivity, architecture that is designed to scale, the ability to manage corporate and private data protection, compliance and, within such complex information technology (IT) environments, flexibility.

“Email serves as the digital memory of companies and remains the main means of business communications, serving as a de facto business data repository. What is changing is the way in which we interact and use email. Business emails are the vehicle to transmit and store business data and provide businesses of any size with the means to control and leverage their data flows.”

Extracting, processing and making the data available to improve all relevant business processes, combined with the ability to search and find information quickly from any device while enforcing high-level security controls, will improve the value gained from emails and business communications. The cloud archive solution, in line with these trends, aims to optimise the manner companies store, retain and transform the business data within them, says Saunders.

The ability to manage detailed and granular business email data quickly and effectively is one pillar for business ediscovery and analytics systems, while various controls, such as personal information protection controls, can be automatically applied, Saunders says.

Effective control over company information also makes data queries across multiple platforms and auditing processes quick, with full tracking of access and permissions, and control over the exposure of metadata, he notes.

“Mimecast’s role in the ecosystem is to augment the collaboration space in office environments, which we do through our management of email data, resilience and security. The platform provides cyberresilience and cybersecurity protection for business email, with fixed and predictable cost, and integrates seamlessly with the applications companies are using,” he adds.

According to Mimecast’s research, 50% of companies globally report mobility, faster search and end-user accessibility as top priorities, and 94% aim to roll out email archive solution mobile applications for employees to access archives.

A key consideration, however, is bandwidth, and its impact on user experience, collaboration applications and productivity must be taken into account to make the experience seamless. Improvements in connectivity and network architecture in South Africa support cloud systems. The email archive platform is designed to be scalable and accessible, irrespective of bandwidth constraints, Saunders highlights.

Mimecast Cloud Archive includes new capabilities that empower employees with fully integrated email management and enhances security by ensuring full IT control over deployment, content access and revocation while using the company’s specific enterprise mobility management solution.

“Employees can perform rapid archive searches, request security permissions and work using always-on email on a corporate device or their own device.”