Archive360, EVT partner to automate retention compliance

Archive360 has formed a strategic partnership with Enterprise Vision Technologies (EVT) to automate retention compliance for regulated organisations and reduce regulatory risk tied to how data and records are stored and disposed of.

The joint offering combines Archive360's Enterprise Data and AI Governance Platform with EVT's governance consulting and implementation services. It targets organisations facing strict rules on record keeping, retention schedules, and auditability, with an initial focus on financial services.

Retention compliance is becoming a larger operational challenge as data volumes grow and oversight tightens. Many organisations still treat backup, archiving, and retention as the same problem, which can lead to tools that fail to enforce policy consistently.

This often creates uncertainty about what must be kept, what can be disposed of, and what still has business value. It can also drive up storage costs when data is retained by default rather than by policy. As a result, companies may struggle to explain to auditors and regulators what information they hold and why it remains retained.

Regulatory pressure

The partnership focuses on automated controls and traceable enforcement. Regulators increasingly expect firms to show that retention rules operate as system controls, not manual steps managed by individuals. Archives have often functioned as repositories that grow over time rather than policy-driven systems aligned to legal obligations and business decisions.

Under the approach, retention policies are defined and enforced within the archive environment. Legal requirements form a fixed layer of retention rules, while business teams make decisions within established governance boundaries rather than setting retention behaviour themselves.

Archive360 provides centralised governance controls for archived data, with retention enforced by policy. EVT adds lifecycle strategy, governance design, and implementation across large enterprise environments. Together, they aim to deliver a single programme that connects compliance requirements to day-to-day storage and disposal practices.

Expected outcomes include lower regulatory risk through system-enforced retention, improved audit readiness through traceable controls, and faster searches for legal and compliance teams. The companies also cited potential reductions in storage and infrastructure costs when retention periods align with data value rather than sheer data volume.

Early deployment

The partners have already delivered work for an unnamed global financial institution. The engagement began as a review of archive storage options and expanded into a broader governance programme after an assessment found gaps in retention enforcement and visibility into retained data.

The institution shifted from a storage-led approach to a policy-based automated governance model. Legal and compliance teams can now access records in seconds, replacing processes that previously took hours and required IT involvement.

"Most organisations think they have a storage problem, when in reality they have a governance problem," said Tom Sabol, VP Sales, East Region, EVT. "By reframing the conversation around automated compliance and regulatory readiness, and pairing that approach with Archive360's platform, we helped this institution reduce risk while making smarter, defensible decisions about its data."

The partnership positions data governance as a control framework spanning compliance obligations and internal information management. In regulated sectors, retention schedules often combine statutory requirements, supervisory expectations, and internal policy. Firms must also demonstrate consistent execution and evidence of compliance, particularly during audits, regulatory reviews, and litigation.

Large organisations also face practical challenges in separating data that must be retained for legal reasons from data kept for operational convenience. When the boundary is unclear, data estates can expand without a clear view of what is required versus discretionary. The companies argue that separating legal and business-driven decisions removes retention responsibility from individual users and reduces the risk of inconsistent outcomes across departments.

Archive360 says its platform is used by more than 2,000 organisations and governs more than 160 petabytes of cloud data. It also cites recognition in Gartner Magic Quadrants for Digital Communications Governance & Archiving and Structured Data Archiving & Application Retirement.

EVT is a systems integrator and reseller focused on regulated enterprises. It provides regulatory and IT consulting, and delivers integrated software and hardware offerings for legal and compliance teams.

Archive360 CEO Jerry Caviston described the partnership as a response to the gap between policy and execution in many enterprises.

"Most enterprises don't struggle because they lack retention policies. They struggle because those policies aren't easily enforced consistently across their data," Caviston said.

"By combining EVT's governance expertise with Archive360's platform, organisations can turn retention policy into automated enforcement that regulators and auditors can actually trust."