GROUP Business Software – The Email Compliance Company

1. What is Email Management?
2. Who needs Email Management?
3. What benefits does the iQ.Suite offer for Email Management?
4. What are the components of Email Management?
5. What is the connection between Email Management, compliance, and archiving?
6. How is email archived with the iQ.Suite?
7. What role does email classification play in Email Management?
8. How can confidential information be transmitted safely?
9. How can delegation management be organized?

Email management consists of strategies and methods for processing, storing, and managing email, from creation to deletion, in accordance with company-specific business processes and statutory regulations. Companies of every kind and size can use email management to create effective business processes.

The iQ.Suite from GROUP Technologies is the leading software package for email management, and the ideal solution for implementing secure and efficient business processes. With the iQ.Suite, email passes through all the necessary processes on a single platform. These processes include encryption, virus protection, spam and content filtering, classification, and long-term archiving.

Email can be controlled and automatically processed throughout its entire lifecycle based on specific rules. Third-party archiving systems can be seamlessly incorporated into the iQ.Suite and used for audit-proof email archiving.

Many companies already use security systems for their email. Often, however, they overlook the need to comply with statutory regulations for long-term archiving of electronic correspondence. Companies also frequently use isolated solutions for email security and archival. These solutions may cause multiple copies of email messages to be stored in the system. Locating and retrieving these emails is a time-consuming and expensive process.

With email management, companies can combine email security and organization throughout the entire email, from creation to deletion. Email management is essential for companies that want to make email an integrated business process for efficient electronic communication. It includes email encryption, virus and spam protection, automatic email classification, and secure archival.

The iQ.Suite forms the basis for implementation of email management. Every email undergoes various processing steps based upon clearly specified rules (policies). The iQ.Suite ensures that email is organized immediately after transmission or receipt so that it can be retrieved, processed, and stored throughout its prescribed lifecycle. This is done without risk and while keeping individual emails in their proper context. All of the checking, classification, and filtering process are ultimately intended for this purpose alone.

With the iQ.Suite, companies are also able to map their entire email, and can safely and efficiently integrate electronic correspondence into company-specific business processes. Existing archiving systems can be incorporated into the iQ.Suite and used for email archival. Emails are archived only once, and are then available for all users simultaneously.

The benefits of this system include:

• Integrated business processes
• Rapid amortization (ROI)
• Greater cost efficiency
• Higher productivity
• Increased security
• Greater availability
• Scalable architecture
• Easy administration
• Guaranteed legal compliance

Email management with the iQ.Suite includes all of the monitoring and organizational steps in the email lifecycle:

• Email Pre-Processing: This step prepares email for additional processing and transmission. Pre-processing ensures that all incoming emails are decrypted and unpacked prior to filtering. Outgoing emails can be encrypted, packed, signed, and furnished with a disclaimer as required.
• Email Firewall: Protects against dangerous and undesirable email, and prevents the loss of confidential information. Filtering directly follows pre-processing. In the firewall, email is filtered to remove spam and viruses, as well as prohibited images and text content. The iQ.Suite uses CORE (Content Recognition Engine) technology to filter out spam. CORE analyzes email with maximum accuracy, and prevents the accidental deletion of legitimate email.
• Email Classification: CORE analyzes, categorizes, and forwards incoming email to the appropriate recipient addresses as needed, depending upon internal company policies. Classification also serves as a basis for additional email processing, e.g. for archiving purposes.
• Email Compliance: Email can be checked for legal compliance and adherence to internal company regulations, and can be blocked prior to delivery if necessary. After it is released, email can then be delivered, placed into quarantine, forwarded to a third party, or deleted.
• Email Archiving: Filtered emails are securely archived. External archiving systems can be seamlessly combined with the iQ.Suite to ensure audit-proof archiving. Archiving precedes delivery, and thus prevents user manipulation (deletion or alteration of email).
• Email Retrieval: The iQ.Suite automatically supplies the archiving system with important metadata (email headers, processing details, categories) for index generation. Email correspondence can be retrieved and restored later through keyword searches.
• Email Retention: This component provides long-term storage in storage systems and automatic deletion of emails after the appropriate time periods.

Both long-term storage and subsequent retrieval and deletion of email must comply with statutory regulations. These processes are becoming increasingly critical for companies. Under these rules, companies are required to store email messages for specific periods of time, depending upon the content.

Centralized storage of business-relevant email can be implemented as an entry-level solution or in conjunction with an archiving system. Email messages are centrally stored in various user-transparent archives upon delivery. This prevents manipulation by users. The iQ.Suite permits the use of multiple archives, as well as search and retrieval of archived email. Only business-relevant emails are archived, and multiple archiving is prevented.

With the iQ.Suite Bridge module, users can transfer archived emails into an audit-proof archiving system. This guarantees a fully integrated, secure, and efficient business process, from receipt of the email message up to its audit-proof archival in compliance with statutory regulations and company policies.

Before delivering an email to its recipient, the iQ.Suite checks it for spam and viruses, automatically classifies it, stores it in individual databases, and also encrypts it as necessary, all based upon company-specific rule sets. Archiving occurs prior to delivery in order to prevent manipulation.

iQ.Suite automatically forwards important metadata, such as email headers, processing details, and categories, to the archiving system for automatic index generation. Email correspondence can then be retrieved at a later date, e.g. for a tax audit, by using keywords. This guarantees that email is audit-proof as required by law.

Companies frequently store multiple copies of email messages, because different user groups access the same email messages. The iQ.Suite permits email messages to be physically stored in the archiving system only once. This single copy is then available for all users simultaneously.

Classification and categorization of email plays a critical role in content-based handling within business processes, and can be deployed in many areas. Possible applications include automatic organization and context-based archiving of contents, creation of flexible delivery and distribution mechanisms, and automated indexing for email archiving.

Rule sets, an integral feature of the iQ.Suite, are used to classify email. Companies can individualize their business processes based upon internal policies to determine how email should be filtered, classified, forwarded, and archived throughout the email lifecycle.

Content-based forwarding of the classified emails ensures that only business-relevant messages are put into long-term storage. Incoming emails can also be forwarded to the appropriate recipients as needed. This permits faster processing of customer inquiries, for example.

The rule sets are implemented in the CORE (Content Recognition Engine) technology that is integrated into the iQ.Suite. CORE is a statistical method for automatic email verification and classification. It is based upon Support Vector Machines (SVM), one of the most powerful methods of text recognition. As a self-learning filter, CORE can also distinguish between desirable and undesirable content, such as different types of newsletters.

Centralized, server-based encryption makes it possible to set up secure email communication. By checking file contents and attachments, even in encrypted and signed emails, the iQ.Suite guarantees continuous, comprehensive security for email content. Incoming email is decrypted on the server before being checked for spam and viruses. Outgoing email can be checked first and then encrypted. This stops confidential information from leaving the company.

Centralized, automated key management on the server or gateway significantly reduces the administrative workload. Existing public key infrastructures (PKIs) can be easily integrated.

Email can be checked, processed, and stored to ensure legal compliance, even during planned and unplanned absences. Specification of delegation rules and absence management ensure that workflows and their associated regulatory checking processes are performed properly.

The iQ.Suite initiates previously defined actions for specific events based upon individual policies, and can activate alternative business processes if necessary; for example, email messages with confidential content can be blocked from transmission to unauthorized employees. Automatic email classification and forwarding also ensures that customer inquiries and other important emails reach the appropriate employees and can be handled promptly, even when the recipient is absent.