A SEEMINGLY innocuous email is enough to land a company in court. That was the warning given to Guernsey’s business community at a seminar on its future use.

Technology lawyer George Gardiner said emails were legally binding and potentially incriminating.

‘Norwich Union was forced to shell out £450,000 in damages and costs for slander and libel after Western Provident discovered damaging and untrue rumours circulating on Norwich Union’s internal email system,’ he said.

‘Another case, Ron Perelman v. Morgan Stanley, led to the bank incurring additional costs after it was slow to disclose emails about the securities fraud alleged by Mr Perelman.’

Mr Gardiner urged companies to archive properly so that if faced with litigation, the ‘smoking-gun email’ can be found and dealt with.

Several other speakers at the event focused on creating clear procedures for external communication.

Jersey Financial Services Commission deputy director Shaun Roberts said it was vital for a regulator to ensure continuity, security, a record of communication and value for money.

Canadian IT security expert Robert Eyrou agreed, believing security was a process, not a product.

‘IT is an integral part of enterprise governance and consists of the leadership and organisational structures and processes that ensure the organisation’s IT sustains and extends its strategies and objectives,’ he said.

‘The reality is that the more you control security governance, the greater the cost. But it is an important investment.’

The seminar was organised by Foreshore, a Jersey company providing offshore Internet solutions, to launch its new partnership with Mimecast Offshore, a dedicated email-management solution.

‘We recognise that email is now business-critical, with companies needing both always-on email and secure data archiving,’ said Foreshore sales and marketing director Andrew Jarrett.

‘Added to that, offshore financial services businesses need their data stored in an appropriate legal jurisdiction.

‘What this seminar has concluded is that email is now at the heart of an organisation’s activities and so must be at the forefront of the minds of its directors.’