The Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal has a piece called Is Email Putting Your Company at Risk?” that includes some quotes from me on the potential legal and liability issues involved in business use of email, and some thoughts about how to handle those issues.
The article and quotes come from a press release from Fortiva that talks about the fascinating results they found in a recent survey about the business use of email.
The money quote:
“While a majority of employees (73%) who use email at work are aware of corporate email policies, less than half (46 per cent) say they always adhere to the policy. This statistic suggests a lack of understanding among employees of the importance of an email policy.”
Here are my comments:
As email is being used increasingly as evidence in lawsuits, it is very important for organizations to educate their staff on what is and isnt acceptable in a workplace communication, said Dennis Kennedy, an information technology lawyer and legal technology consultant based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Those organizations that dont implement effective policies and procedures, train their people, and enforce policies for email are at serious risk of facing both future lawsuits and unhappy results in those lawsuits.
These statistics reinforce the fact that businesses need to do a better job of reducing their risk by communicating their policies more effectively with employees and backing up that communication with training and well-designed technology solutions, Kennedy added.
Thanks to Michael Arkfeld for the pointer to the article, which includes some eye-opening information about how people are using email these days.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy’s half-day electronic discovery seminar – “Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery.” Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

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