Some comments on email

By Lindsay

Email History

Email has become 'almost' vital to a number of businesses today.  So I'll  make some comments about email.  First some history.  Email in its current form began in the early 1970's.  Today, 40 years on, we are still using the same protocols.  We've had to curtail some of the features designed into the email system, mainly due to spammers.  It was a system that would eventually get a message from A to B.  But if it didn't make it - who cared?  Because email was never a vital or important technology.  To be sure of getting a message through, you would use a telephone call or a fax.

Backup Email

Today it's become very important, but we are still saddled with a system 40 years old.  So we have to put in place some email redundancy to keep our businesses going.  My suggestion is that even though you have a business emaill address, you should at least sign up for a free web based email service such as Gmail and/or hotmail.

Some of the features of gmail include web access from anywhere in the world, and access on smartphones.  Some of the features of hotmail include access to Web based Office Applications, and document storage.  They are free to sign up and use.

Email Addresses

Now this is a topic that needs to be seriously looked at, especially if your business has high staff turn over.  Rather than have email addresses such as myname@ the best practice is to use email addresses that reflect the position.  For example:
manager@
sales@
admin@
salesrep1@
tech1@

The display name (what people see as who sent the email) can be changed as people move into these positions, but the email addresses don't change.  The advantage is that as people move, you no longer need to set up diverts, or monitor other mailboxes, or pay for extra mailboxes.