The electronic document trail

Having an e-business usually means having a lot of online communications. Since there is sometimes no real "headquarters" for the operation, most of your information is stored online or on PCs across the country - or even around the world - with no paper versions filed away.

That's all fine and good until something happens. For instance, if your business is implicated in a lawsuit, then all your records might be seized, including those that exist only in the virtual world. Believe it or not, this could mean big trouble for an e-business if you don't have a handle on your document retention system.

I was reading a new book, e-counsel: The executive's legal guide to electronic commerce by Robinson & Cole, LLP and published by Mountainside Press. It really hit home how detrimental electronic files can be to a corporation.

The book describes a hypothetical situation where a swing company realizes its swings are defective. It takes precautions to alleviate the situation, but doesn't follow through with a full recall. A child is injured and a court case ensues. The plaintiff urges the courts to seize all the company's physical and electronic documents, and the court agrees.

Next thing you know, the smoking gun is an electronic file that was never printed out, arguing for an immediate recall. Some of the evidence is extracted from the company's word processing program, which keeps a copy of every file in an online storage area. These documents could decide the case.

In fact, the book says that 33% of all documents kept in the ordinary course of business in the U.S. exist only in electronic form. It also says that savvy lawyers are going straight for the desktop in court cases.

The authors go on to say that even if you think you've deleted your e-mail, think again. It probably exists somewhere: on the server, somewhere on your hard drive or at the recipient's desktop.

Even more amazing, a company can be further implicated based on routine storage procedures. For instance, if a company has a process for automatically deleting files and fails to halt that process during an investigation, it can be seen as messing with evidence.

What I took away from this section of the book is that companies should have a document retention plan that clearly states what to do with stored e-mail and online documents and what network procedures to revamp in case of a court proceeding. Do trial runs with your employees and bring in the lawyers to check out your procedures. Make sure you are failsafe in how you conduct your business. You never know what smoking guns might lie in your e-mail backup.

Sandra Gittlen is events editor for Network World's Seminars and Events Group. Previously, she was managing editor of Network World Fusion and senior reporter covering Internet research and standards for Network World magazine. She can be reached at sgittlen@nww.com.

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