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E-Mail Behind the Firewall

The menu of e-mail features in the corporate environment is currently less inclusive than described in "Confessions of an E-mail Junkie"—a fixed menu instead of a banquet—but the needs are often greater.

Firms have special interests and special problems with e-mail. The goal of corporate e-mail is to come as close as possible to the services and options available to home computers. It will not be possible to match their capability in cost, personalization, flexibility and options . . . but that is the target. It is interesting to note that, ten years ago, the goal of personal computers was to match large-scale operations. Now it is the reverse and the gap is widening rapidly.

For the large firm, the costs can be huge, and worries about firewalls and security are a special case. Firms rarely outsource their networks and only a few their entire e-mail function. (They should . . . each provider offers a corporate service.)

omnibus e-mail: One answer might be for the executive to have a personal e-mail account outside the firewall. Cost of e-mail to the personal user is about zero, and it may be possible to have mail forwarded from the company’s mailbox to a mailbox at an outside e-mail provider. I just opened an omnibus e-mail box for my various e-mail addresses to be forwarded to my main one at CompuServe. (CompuServe has the best global network, with a local contact almost everywhere I go . . . full service anywhere in the world at the price of a local call.)

Mail should be personal; easy to use at one’s desktop; and easy to have a "conversation" by e-mail around the world, ignoring time zones—in my mind, at least three messages (one way) between at least two people, within a twenty-four hour period, is a "conversation." I am likely to have ten of these a day with the ability to copy a section of a message in my answer back (I think Eudora did it first, but now most e-mail services have it). Phone callbacks are eliminated. I notice a number of executives of my age (mid-60s) are e-mailed throughout the day—a new version of "managing by walking around." And now we see the spread of "buddy chat" systems—AOL, Netscape, Net Meeting (with ICQ)—and there will be more. I like them and use them.

E-mail should be portable. I use a "pocket"-sized Toshiba Libretto now with full Windows95 (Internet Explorer 4.0 with most of the Win98 functions, I think) so e-mail is always with me through a local CompuServe node. If I wish, I can also use CompuServe Callback which reads e-mail to me (in electronic voice) over any phone, albeit with limited ability to answer back. Other services do the same thing.

E-mail should stay in the electronic environment. Faxes and e-mail printed (then delivered on paper) fail to take advantage of the editing capability and low error rate of transacting between machines and humans and back again. To comment on a document within the electronic environment is fast and accurate. An electronic trail may be maintained, and electronic files can be shared if desired. And I like the ability with CompuServe to transmit a single message to a blend of addressees in e-mail and fax . . . a great time and cost saver (typical fax cost to the US is $.50).

The ability to attach and send electronic files is a must. Partly this function allows the sharing of files among teams of coworkers who may be dispersed around the globe or next door (it is identical). And partly it allows the document to travel with all of its format and file type intact.

Options . . . there are so many. Some are stylistic and just make people feel in control of their personal environment—I set the font I like, use auto summarize in MS Word 7.0 to see what it does to my literary skills, add web links and even web documents with a click.

Lastly, integrating web access with desktop e-mail is essential. Without it, the world of information is way beyond what any organization has at its disposal. To be without it at work is a severe disadvantage. (All of these might be one of the main drivers to telecommuting.) Often when I write to someone, I will put in a web address, rather like one would use a footnote in writing. Most e-mail services (usually non-corporate) allow you to click on the web reference and go right to the site. I would find it very difficult to do without that.

Dean LeBaron
November 16, 1997

email <deanlebaron@compuserve.com>

website <http://www.deanlebaron.com>