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Modernize your electronic records management and reduce the time and cost of responding to public records requests.
Smarsh for Government
Public sector organizations need to capture and store electronic communications of all types. It’s no longer simply email— official records now include SMS/text messages, social media and instant messages.
As state sunshine laws and federal oversight guidance evolve to include modern communication channels, it’s imperative for organizations to simplify the capture and search of information so they can rapidly respond to requests by using a single, comprehensive solution.
Failure to maintain and secure complete and accurate records leaves agencies vulnerable to fines, legal and reputational risks. Watch this brief video on managing electronic communications records and response.
Key Government Challenges
Key challenges around managing electronic communications records, data capture and production:
Capturing all electronic communications
Smarsh archiving solutions support over 80 different communications channels across email, SMS/Text, social media, IM & collaboration, voice and web. As government organizations race to catch up with new legislation requiring text messages to be captured, you can rely on Smarsh to simplify your text message retention and reproduction strategy. We partner with many industry carriers for direct-capture of all mobile content from your employees devices.
Reducing disparate collections of records content
Smarsh captures and stores all data from modern communications channels approved for official business. Records teams, attorneys, and human resource staff no longer have to search multiple servers in multiple locations or chase down individuals for copies of text messages, email, or social media communications. Whether for public records requests or e-discovery events, a single archive reduces the time and cost burden on internal resources.
Search and review of complex communications
Electronic communications content is captured in its native format, with message threading to show messages in their original context. All conversations are automatically indexed and searchable by person, message type and keywords. Whether it be for records requests, violations of agency policies, identifying corruption, or training, you can set up and conduct searches to detect the use of certain key words or phrases within messages alongside a sophisticated workflow for review and escalation.
Records Portal: for public records requests and e-discovery
Through a strategic partnership with NextRequest, Smarsh offers an end to end solution that features a specialized online portal for accepting, managing and responding to public records requests, complete with functionality for legal teams to perform redaction prior to publishing the messages extracted from the archive.
Satisfying security and data protection requirements
Government data, especially communications data, requires enterprise-grade security. Smarsh archiving solutions are delivered with top-tier security, management and operational controls. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with stringent access controls. All electronic records are stored in an immutable, compliant format. Communications data can either be captured and sent to an existing archive or retained in the Smarsh integrated archive, with customizable retention periods to meet your needs.
Flexible deployment
Every organization has its own deployment needs. We have flexible deployment models, including single-tenant and multi-tenant archive environments and on-premises as well as cloud-based capture, to meet your organization’s data requirements.
Smarsh solutions provide valuable benefits for all types of government organizations
Archiving for cities & counties
Cities, counties and local government agencies all need to capture, retain and produce electronic records for public records requests, for litigation and discovery events, and for management and administration.
The Connected Suite archiving and capture platform is purpose-built to meet these challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
70% of government organizations allow text communications for official government business – Find out how to archive mobile/text communications.
Looking for an end-to-end management of electronic communications through a public-facing records request portal? Learn more.
Archiving for States
State agencies need to capture, retain and produce electronic records for litigation and discovery events, for management and administration, and to respond to records requests.
Spend less time pursuing electronic communications from disparate archives or hitting dead ends trying to locate records. The Smarsh Connected Archive is purpose-built to meet these challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
2/3 of state governments allow employees to use their own devices to text for work, and 65% do not archive those messages.
Learn @ archiving text messages.
42% of gov orgs say they don't know if they could fulfill text records requests on time. Text archiving can be easy to search and produce – Watch video: How to pull a text request in < 1 minute.
Archiving for Public Safety & Emergency Services
Reduce risk to your organization and comply with open records laws by capturing all electronic communications containing critical information. Enable external community engagement across a wide range of social and mobile channels, and capture time-sensitive alerts and updates with confidence.
The Smarsh Connected Suite is purpose-built to meet these challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
58% of public sector organizations allow Facebook, and 44% allow Twitter – yet more than 1/2 don’t archive it.
Learn @ social media archiving.
7% of public sector orgs allow text messaging – yet 46% don’t archive it. Learn @ archiving text messaging.
Archiving for Federal Agencies
Federal agencies need centralized archiving solutions to meet the electronic retention and production requirements under the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) Capstone initiative and to produce electronic communications under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Smarsh platform is purpose-built to meet these challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
100% of Senators had created Twitter accounts in 2013 and virtually all Members of Congress had at least one official congressional social media account by 2016. However, only 58% of government organizations are archiving Twitter. Watch a short webinar on our survey.
66% of government organizations don’t archive social media channels including Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
90% of government organizations are not archiving text messages yet. Learn @ archiving text messages.
Archiving for Education
Empower your School or District to engage students across a wide range of social media channels. Retain all digital conversations for management, administration and rapidly respond to records requests. Conversation data is archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how it is generated.
The Connected Suite is built to solve archive and production challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
58% of public sector organizations allow social media – yet more than half don’t archive it. Learn @ social media archiving.
Archiving for Special Districts
Special districts need to capture, retain and produce electronic records for public records requests, for litigation and discovery events, and for management and administration.
The Connected Suite is built to meet these challenges across all of your electronic communications, including text messaging, social media, email and instant messaging. All conversations are search-ready and archived in proper context, regardless of where, when, and how they are generated.
Did you know?
58% of public sector organizations allow Facebook and 44% allow Twitter – yet more than half don’t archive it. Learn @ social media archiving.
Key Regulations
Smash helps government organizations meet compliance obligations for:
Government organizations across the nation rely on Smarsh
CIOs & IT Staff
Ensure transparency, provide oversight, and manage compliance with one, centralized platform. Manage all digital records with a purpose-built solution for capturing and retaining all content types including email, social and text messages, track public records requests and manage compliance policies across departments.
Records Managers
Move away from inefficient, paper-based, and manual processes. Access all captured content in one place, retain content in accordance with regulations and respond to public records requests quickly and easily.
Attorneys & Legal Staff
Leverage sophisticated e-discovery, case management, and legal hold capabilities for all archived content. Prepare for and respond to public records requests, litigation, and audits without relying on manual processes.
Communications Staff
Communicate using the channels you want with peace of mind, knowing that that records of those communications will be available in the event of a public records request. Take full advantage of the latest channels for community news, events and interactions knowing everything is being retained and can be easily produced when needed.
HR Staff
Implement policies, search across all archived content, and easily review and retrieve messages as part of investigations into employee misconduct or other disputes from one, centralized platform.
Stay up to date with the latest resources
Archiving and Monitoring For Compliance
Take 25 minutes and see what a modern solution for archiving and compliance looks like.
One lawmaker complied with a media outlet’s public records request. Two other lawmakers didn’t for the same request… https://t.co/vmEOOc5q6d
How transparent are governments in Oregon? New public records survey sheds light https://t.co/FwvvUc0UwY
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