The InformationWeek -- Blogs



Topics:  

  • Email this page E-mail this page
  • Print this page Print this page
  • Bookmark and Share
  • icon

Necessity Is The Mother


Posted by Mitch Irsfeld, Nov 29, 2005 03:01 PM

If you've spent any length of time supporting users, you know that there is no end to the imaginative workarounds they can come up with when a system goes down and they have work that still needs to happen. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention, or some other kind of mother, but when it comes to e-mail workarounds, the inventiveness of users can cause problems.

And it's hard to quibble with their intent. Businesses can no longer build slack into their schedules as a just-in-case measure when making deals. Communications technology has made immediacy the norm, so when a critical conduit is temporarily unavailable, the show still must go on, no excuses.

In our most recent poll we asked you what your users resort to when their corporate e-mail is down. As we anticipated, a majority (51 percent) of you said they just go out on the Web and use their personal e-mail accounts. Not a pretty picture if you're monitoring e-mail for compliance and security purposes.


Another 11 percent of you said they resort to the enterprise instant messaging system, a more manageable choice and its good to know that you're managing IM. But eight percent of you said that your users go out on commercial IM networks in a pinch, and that's not a good place for sensitive corporate information to go.

I guess old reliable, the fax machine, is just that, old. Only five percent of you said your users turn the fax when the e-mail network is down.

And that leaves 24 percent of you that chose our catchall, other choice, which we called Smoke Signals. That could include a number for options, including just picking up the phone and talking to someone. But if documents need to be exchanged for review, that rules out a voice call.

What's become clear is that many of you don't have policies for how the work goes on when the e-mail is down. And in the this age of compliance, legal discovery and corporate governance, it's time to institute those policies and perhaps make a strong case for enterprise IM.

« 20 Whats For Windows? | Main | Out Of Alignment? »



Sign Up Now
For InformationWeek News Alerts




This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.

Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service.

Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.




 
 

  1. Detecting Scalability Problems With Intel Parallel Universe Portal
  2. Just Say No To SFAQL Parallelism
  3. QuickThread: A New C++ Multicore Library


Join The InformationWeek Group On LinkedIn


                           


  1. AT&T's iPhone Stranglehold Ending June 2010?
  2. Will Android Survive?
  3. Top Wireless Turkeys Of 2009
  4. Apple Steps Into AT&T-Verizon Ad War


  1. 'Godfather Of Spam' Gets Four Years In Prison
  2. Senators Urge EU To Finish Oracle-Sun Probe
  3. Microsoft Issues Internet Explorer Security Advisory
  4. Amazon Boosts Kindle Features
  5. Google, TiVo Partner For TV Data
  6. Feds To Sharpen Cybersecurity Job Policies

 

  Ars Technica
Boing Boing
Channel 9 Forums
CRN Blogs
Dr.Dobb's Portal: Blogs
Engadget
Gizmodo
GrokLaw
  Lifehacker
Schneier on Security
Slashdot
TechCrunch
Techdirt
Techmeme
Valleywag

  DECEMBER 2008
NOVEMBER 2008
OCTOBER 2008
SEPTEMBER 2008
AUGUST 2008
JULY 2008
JUNE 2008
MAY 2008
  APRIL 2008
MARCH 2008
FEBRUARY 2008
JANUARY 2008
DECEMBER 2007
NOVEMBER 2007
OCTOBER 2007
SEPTEMBER 2007