As organisations begin to unravel the huge challenges of defining their Mobility and Collaboration Strategies, they begin to wrestle with identifying and setting policies to meet the evolving technology of devices, texting, Instant Messaging, Web Conferencing, email, Web 2.0, CRM's, and end-point communication devices.

Once they figure this out, then they are challenged with how to manage everything, meet compliance and security requirements, satisfy the business needs and at the same time stay focused on their core business.

On November 24, 2008, Christine Taylor wrote:
"In the court case Consolidated Aluminum v. Alco, the defendant suffered monetary sanctions for failing to properly apply litigation holds. In spite of the fact that Alco had a litigation hold policy in place, someone was asleep at the wheel. There were several serious issues: Alco issued the holds after litigation had begun, did not make the holds broad enough, and did not enforce holds when key employees deleted relevant data."

We have been speaking to many companies that run the full spectrum in size and scope, from Fortune 50 companies to SME companies with 20 employees.

It is interesting that in many instances the Legal Department or Legal advisers to these organizations like to hedge the entire archiving discussion around PIN/SMS by taking the position: "If we don't archive the data, we won't have to produce it if we are caught up in a legal action." To be more succinct: "We can't give opposing counsel something we never had."

A senior aide to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had his BlackBerry stolen by Chinese intelligence agents while on a trip to China back in January 2008. According to another unmentioned senior Brit official, the incident had “all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence.”

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove had lost his BlackBerry device more than once.

The knee-jerk reaction: remotely wipe the devices regularly or at least if they go M.I.A.

Kimberly Hefling, an Associated Press Writer wrote the following:
“A Pennsylvania-based lobbyist was charged Tuesday (July 15th, 2008) with destroying evidence related to an FBI investigation into former Rep. Curt Weldon. Prosecutors said in court filings that Cecilia Grimes threw documents in the trash after she received grand jury subpoenas for those documents. FBI agents found the documents in her garbage cans. Authorities said she also threw out her Blackberry at a fast-food restaurant to keep the FBI from retrieving her e-mail. “

Many organizations believe the development of policies and processes, placing them in an attractive binder, and handing the binder to auditors and the board of directors is reasonable and appropriate security. Employee awareness of the policies and processes and the business objectives they represent is lacking, as is the existence of a consistently applied set of sanctions for non-compliance. Human nature drives employees to practice old habits until a reason to change presents itself. Management must provide that reason to change.