Google announced the launch of information governance solution Google Apps Vault for Google Apps For Business customers, which Google says can reduce costs of litigation, regulatory investigation and compliance.

It costs $5 a month, and lets businesses archive and manage Gmail and on-the-record chat messages in place, so the data doesn’t need to be duplicated in separate archives. Likewise, it lets businesses retain documents and define retention policies based on content, labels and metadata.

It also has feature that let authorized users search across the domain for data that may be relevant to specific matters/investigations.

“Businesses of all sizes need to be prepared for the unexpected,” says Google’s Jack Halprin. “In today’s environment, using Vault to manage, archive and preserve your data can help protect your business. Litigation costs can really take a toll on a business when minor lawsuits can run up to many thousands of dollars, and larger lawsuits can cost even more. Significant litigation costs come from having to search and find relevant data, which is also known as electronic discovery (eDiscovery).”

“E-discovery can be part of virtually any litigation and requires you to search, find and preserve your electronic information such as email,” he adds. “Vault helps protect your business with easy-to-use search so you can quickly find and preserve data to respond to unexpected customer claims, lawsuits or investigations. With an instant-on functionality and availability of your data a few clicks away, Vault provides access to all of your Gmail and on-the-record chats and can provide significant savings to your business over the traditional costs of litigation and eDiscovery.”

Businesses who wish to set up Google Apps Vault are directed to contact Google’s sales team or a Google Apps reseller.