I am regularly reminded by managers more advanced than I am that they had in the past, functioned effectively in the absence of many of the office automation tools that have become mainstays in business today; tools that enable us to accomplish administrative tasks both efficiently and cost effectively. Depending on how far back in history we go, these tools include the personal computer, the laser printer, voice messaging, word-processing and spreadsheet solutions and electronic-mail (e-mail).
These tools are now mostly taken for granted and the careful investment, the right equipment and the appropriate policies required to derive the maximum benefits from their use are frequently overlooked.
Commercial e-mail became available in 1989 accessible only through e-mail client. Developments since then including the genesis of web mail in 1996 have led to the growth in e-mail. E-mail is popular because of two major attributes: time-shifting and accessibility.
E-mail is an easy way to send a message when it is convenient to the sender, to be read when convenient to the recipient. Although this is possible with voice messaging, with e-mail a paper trail can be created (although not as robust legally as hard copy). E-mail can also be edited easily for forwarding and reply.
It is easier to access the e-mail messages one needs instead of thumbing through a stack of papers on a desk or listening sequentially to voice messages. Further, e-mail can be accessed independent of location unlike telephone or fax.
In developed countries it is estimated that business users receive in excess of 60 e-mail messages daily of which as much as 45% to 50% is spam or junk e-mail selling you something. In Guyana statistics show the percentage of spam to be in the range of 30% to 40%. While Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and businesses may have filters that aid in reducing spam these do not extend to web mail (such as Hotmail, Yahoo etc) used by individual employees and a large number of businesses in Guyana where personal filters must be set by the user. Being faced with a constant barrage of unsolicited pornography, Viagra, weight loss and debt rescheduling messages as employees attempt to read their mail, is a recipe for companies to lose productive hours. It is estimated that on average users without anti-spam spend 43 minutes checking their mail.
Spam also brings with it the threat of viruses where local ISPs and companies are in constant battles to protect their networks against the virus threats initiated through unsolicited mail and particularly in a global environment where 78% of executives worry about network security but still open attachments. Although most competent IT departments will block the majority of viruses and detect those that get through before major damage can be done, there is a cost attached - establishment of firewalls, monitoring, anti-virus software, the time lost while computers or network connections are unavailable and administrator/employee time.
In spite of the lost productive hours as a result of the "high noise" content in our mailboxes and the cost of responding to virus threats, e-mail remains an effective means of communication for many businesses.
To ensure that e-mail maintains its effectiveness in business it is important that appropriate codes of practice and training are implemented.
Policies must be implemented that cover security and the purposes for which e-mail can and cannot be used. If internet access is deployed over a network or the internet is accessed by computers on a network then access must be managed to restrict the sites including personal web mail sites that employees can visit.
E-mail users must possess the following qualities:
* effective personal management and communication skills, so that they keep out as well as avoid the lure of the "high noise", "low information" content of their mailboxes; and
* a reasonable level of IT skills, so that they are aware of possible threats.
Given the importance of e-mail in today's business environment companies may consider creating an e-mail charter to instil how e-mail should be used so that e-mail remains beneficial whilst minimising the potential associated costs.