Jun
18
2009

Is Gmail good for your business?

When the history of early 21st century business is written, Google will certainly be counted among the success stories, and big component of their success has been the wide adoption of Gmail. Although not the first to offer a free e-mail service, Google’s mail service has been very popular thanks to a minimalist approach- slim on features, but easily accessed on a variety of web enabled devices. As a recent letter sent to Google CEO Eric Schmidt points out, one of the features they’ve scrimped on is security.

By default, Google Mail and Google Documents transmit information in clear text. This means that data is unencrypted, and easily read by anyone who is able to intercept it. The reason this is disabled by default is understandable- tough encryption comes with a processing cost. The overhead for Google to encrypt all the mail that moves through their system would be massive. The problem for Google is that, due to their positioning, they are held to a higher standard. It would likely come as a big surprise to the millions of businesspeople who rely on Gmail that it comes with a massive security risk.
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Jun
16
2009

E-mail Retention and Archival- Why It’s Critical For Your Business

If your business is like most, e-mail has become the heart of your company communications. Sales teams depend on it to communicate with clients, management depends on it to communicate with employees, it’s vital for a successful modern business. What many people fail to consider is that e-mail is also a dangerous chink in your corporate armor, and in a decidedly unglamorous way. It’s a simple but critical question- where does your company e-mail go when your employees are done processing it?

It’s important to understand that company e-mail is the property of your company. There have been many good arguments made about privacy in the workplace and the rights of individuals but make no mistake- when it comes to the law your business is responsible and accountable for that information.

E-mail retention is difficult for a number of reasons, not the least of which is most e-mail is the equivalent of a gum wrapper once it’s been read, nothing but an afterthought. The sheer volume of e-mail presents another challenge, as is the fact that by and large e-mail defies easy categorization. Above all else is a truism that most of us have experienced- the e-mail you can’t find is the one you need.
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