Fortunately, he was able to find a content management tool that not only had advanced searching capabilities, but could also help manage the Information Store in the long term. Without it, the company was blind to supporting Exchange 2000 data storage-and not able to meet business requirements upon request.

One thing: be clear about the difference between a content manager for email and the term content manager used widely in Web page production. An email content manager is a tool that manages the content that flows through your email system. A traditional (if any concept only a few years old can be called traditional) content manager is one that manages the flow of editorial content throughout a Web site.

Defense against viruses
You can also use an email content manager as part of a layered defense against viruses. One hospital in the Midwest used this sort of tool to clean Exchange's Information Stores in advance of the anti-virus software. When the Sobig virus hit the Internet, the network administrator used it to look for attachments with *.pif or *.scr, set those to dump into a dummy folder, reviewed them to verify that they were a problem, then deleted them.

Don't wait until your next big emergency to start controlling your mailbox. Start thinking about managing your email archive today.

Ann James is the marketing director of C2C Systems. She was previously EMEA Marketing Manager for Kana Inc. and Edify Corp. James is an international business graduate from Aston University in the United Kingdom.