What is the purpose of archiving in business operations?

The chosen answer accurately reflects the primary purpose of archiving in business operations. Archiving involves the storage of files, records, and other data in a manner that allows for easy reference and backup. This practice is essential for maintaining historical records, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and safeguarding against data loss. By keeping archived data accessible, organizations can retrieve information when needed for audits, reviews, or any other operational needs without compromising the performance of current systems.

The other options do not adequately capture the comprehensive role that archiving plays. Improving current file accessibility pertains more to document management and retrieval systems rather than archiving itself, which focuses on the long-term preservation of data. Deleting outdated files is a different process that may lead to permanent loss of data, which contradicts the notion of maintaining an archive. Analyzing business performance is a separate function that typically relies on current and archived data but is not the primary aim of archiving itself. Therefore, the most accurate understanding of the purpose of archiving is centered around its role in storing information for future reference and backup.