Clearwell analyzes unique properties of e-mail

It’s almost a given that an organization of any size will be faced with a product liability lawsuit, an accusation of wrongful termination or some other legal action at some point in the relatively near future. Because an increasing proportion of the content needed to defend an organization – and the content that a court will likely make discoverable – is stored in e-mail systems, organizations will have to gain quick and ready access to this large and growing body of information.

Many organizations use archiving systems to protect themselves from the consequences of being unable to find information in their e-mail systems, while others use manual systems to look for necessary content. One company that has developed an interesting approach to looking for e-mail content is Clearwell Systems. 

The company’s Email Intelligence Platform works with e-mail archiving software to analyze the unique properties of e-mail, combining this analysis with other data to derive specific patterns within e-mail content. The result is a very scalable index of e-mail content that, combined with sophisticated analytics, helps an organization find specific content in e-mail stores. For example, using the Clearwell platform, an organization can categorize information in their e-mail stores by more than just keywords, instead using more meaningful categories like ‘acquisition discussions’ or ‘stockholder problems’. This can make it easier to find information for legal discovery or other purposes, and can help organizations manage their e-mail content more effectively. Clearwell claims that it can reduce discovery and compliance costs by 90%.

One of the more compelling aspects of the Clearwell platform is the dashboard that offers a graphical representation of data in e-mail stores, such as the number and types of messages in each category. The platform allows personalized categories to be established so e-mail content in topics of specific interest can be tracked and analyzed.

The Clearwell platform will be launched in January.