 ReduceMail Pro Mail Management Solutions | Eugen Tarnow February 2 2012 11:26:49 AMMy posting about email being perceived as a commodity did not generate more than one response (no - I did not delete any comments this time!). We are all in the email business so I am perplexed. Perhaps it was a bad day to read blogs. So here I go again. I’ve heard many Notes professionals, including sales reps, say that email is a “commodity.” The one comment I received suggested that email will be given away when the customer buys social software. Perhaps that is an interesting way to get more Notes customers. Or it may be a way of telling the customer that email is a commodity... The idea that email is worth little is an idea that is simply wrong. Whether it arises from a sales force that needs to feed its attention deficit with newly branded software or C-suits needing to make decisions that celebrate their creativity, email may be boring and slow-changing but worthless it is not. In fact, the differences between Lotus Notes, Outlook and Google are sufficient to warrant extremely careful consideration. Email is not just a car, it is the communication glue of corporations. It is the only application everybody notices when it is down. It is the most important application for when lawyers move in to ascertain responsibility. It is the application used by sales people, by engineers, by marketers, by everyone involved in business. In fact, email is something that the CFO should be particularly interested in. If an email provider can save 20 minutes of employee time every day, that would be a significant part of corporate profits. At Apple each employee makes a whopping $400,000 per year in profits for the company. A twenty minute saving everyday would translate into another $16,000 per yer per employee... I am not the only one noting the fallacy of "email is a commodity". A Gartner article entitled “E-Mail Is a Commodity and Other Fairy Tales” seems to support my case (no I did not pay for the report so I don't really know what is inside). The ReduceMail Pro team is very excited give our full attention to all companies who use Notes mail. We can save employee time by taking their minds off of email management. Want to learn more about ReduceMail Pro? Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial.
Eugen Tarnow February 1 2012 11:52:24 AM We attended LegalTech on Monday and lawyers voiced two concerns about the cloud: 1. The cloud data can be disassembled and stored in many different countries. When time comes for e-discovery or mail management tasks, the laws of the data storage countries governing email may apply. For example, European laws governing privacy may limit e-discovery processes if parts of the data resides in Europe. 2. Procurement has to be proactive with cloud contract clauses: When the inevitable law suit arrives and e-discovery becomes necessary, the cloud provider has custody of the data and can decide to make data extraction extremely expensive. Do you know how you will conduct real-time searches if you need to? With ReduceMail Pro Audit, you can find and produce emails quickly and easily – as well as maintain control over the audit process. Learn more about Audit here.
Is your legal department ready for an e-Discovery request? Our solution makes it possible for legal staff to search emails by keyword, collect documents into designated databases, and maintain an audit trail – all with no involvement from IT required. Learn more about e-Discovery here. The ReduceMail Pro team is very excited give our full attention to all companies who use Notes mail. Want to learn more about ReduceMail Pro? Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial.
Eugen Tarnow January 31 2012 03:19:05 PMIn last week's Wall Street Journal a feud between two brothers caused one of the brothers to pay a few hundred dollars to a Chinese hacking group IHG to break into the other brother's email. IHG "requested the target person's email address, the names of friends or colleagues, and examples of topics that interest them. The hackers would then send an email to the target that sounded as if it came from an acquaintance, but which actually installed malicious software on the target's computer." Since targeted hacking is so cheap it is an overwhelming threat that uses email systems for delivery. Lotus Notes has apparently never been targeted with a system specific virus (for example, opening an email message in Outlook can cause a virus to be installed - another reason for security conscious companies to choose Lotus Notes!). Nevertheless the emails that are delivered may contain viruses that log key strokes. The hacker attachments can get by the anti-virus software because they tweak the virus so that it passes through all common anti-virus software. I am not sure what a Lotus Notes administrator can do about this. One way may be to track who is getting unusual attachments with ReduceMail Pro Audit and have automatic emails delivered telling the users to be cautious about opening their attachments and why. Eugen Tarnow January 30 2012 10:56:29 AMAt Lotusphere the implicit message seemed to be that corporate email is a "commodity". This word was used by sales people as well as customers. The more I think about it the more perplexed I get. How can corporate email be a commodity? Is it a commodity because there are three players in the market instead of two? It is certainly not a commodity in that you can easily change it, changing it is very expensive! And it is certainly not a commodity in the sense that you can get somebody off the street to run the email system! In fact the email system keeps getting increasingly complex. For example, it has to be very well protected since it is the most common way for hackers to access end users. If you are not careful about your corporate email system your corporate IP can be gone in a second! Is it a commodity because there are no discernible differences between the three email systems? Well, there are many differences, in fact there are many more differences between the three email vendors than there are between other corporate software products like spreadsheets and word processors. Are ERP systems a commodity? My conclusion, subject to your comments, is then that corporate email is NOT a commodity.
Anna Sandler January 12 2012 02:15:00 PM Lotusphere Booth #320
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Avalon Business Systems to Showcase ReduceMail Pro Mail Management Product Suite at Lotusphere 2012 LOTUSPHERE, ORLANDO, FLA. January 16, 2012 – Avalon Business Systems, a leading developer of mail management utilities, will be demonstrating its mail management product suite, ReduceMail Pro, at Lotusphere 2012. The ReduceMail Pro suite of mail management utilities offers numerous innovative solutions for IBM Lotus Notes administrators, including a search and retrieval e-Discovery tool and a state-of-the-art journal management system. ReduceMail Pro will also be introducing for the first time at Lotusphere its new Consolidation feature, which enhances the current Audit product. Audit enables administrators to conduct real-time searches of server-based Lotus Notes mail files and corresponding server-based archives. The Consolidation feature adds the additional ability to consolidate emails from multiple backup copies of mailfiles into one set of consolidated mailfiles. Also new from ReduceMail Pro is the ability to retrieve archived mail from all mobile devices that are synched using IBM Lotus Notes Traveler. Demos of this new archive retrieval functionality are available during Lotusphere at Booth 320. Lotus Notes administrators are constantly involved in multiple time-consuming tasks that challenge even the most organized worker. ReduceMail Pro products strive to make mail administration easier by automating complex tasks, such as mail storage management and mail router & server monitoring. ReduceMail Pro products also enable administrators to react quickly and efficiently to audit and e-Discovery requests as they are received. "ReduceMail Pro products are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the Lotus Notes administrator, and the changing landscape of email compliance," says Eugen Tarnow, Company Founder and Director of Development. "Our products provide ways for the Lotus Notes administrator to do the most intensive mail management tasks, including responding to Audit and e-Discovery requests. Our time-saving innovations really help the administrator get the most out of the Lotus Notes mail datastore." About Avalon Business Systems
Avalon Business Systems is a leading provider of Lotus Notes and Domino technology and services with a specialization in Notes mail issues (archiving, removal and discovery) which is achieved through an advanced mail management system.
Founded in New York City in 1997, Avalon has helped to fill the need for highly specialized Lotus Notes and Domino capabilities among sophisticated business organizations and government agencies. Since its inception, Avalon has helped clients develop and manage their Lotus Notes and Domino technology through application development, strategic business solution implementation, and management of the Notes mail enterprise. Avalon technology products are second to none in delivering quality solutions, high return on investment, and state-of-the-art task management.
You can learn more about Avalon Business Systems and ReduceMail Pro online at www.ReduceMailPro.com, or connect on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ReduceMailPro and on Facebook. Avalon Business Systems is located at Lotusphere Booth 320.
For more information, or to schedule an interview with Eugen Tarnow, please contact Anna Sandler at anna@avabiz.com or at 1-877-210-6002 x113.
Eugen Tarnow December 29 2011 02:57:26 PMApparently there is such a thing as competitive e-discovery. It’s not quite an Olympic event, but a study/contest sponsored by Oracle will “pit teams of document reviewers, using their choice of software, all working on the same data set to learn which methods are the fastest and most thorough.” The top-dog document reviewers may even be rewarded with contracts from Oracle. Though the aforementioned sport is the epitome of niche, its existence speaks to the fact that success in a real e-discovery project cannot be traced to simply one factor like the lawyers’ experience or the software’s quality. An ideal scenario has competent document reviewers who also have reliable and effective tools. The teams that win in competitive e-discovery are not only those with the best legal traditional skills but also those with the foresight to choose the best e-discovery software. That’s how legal departments can win in real life too. When an organization has legal concerns and must perform e-discovery, its legal department needs to function at a high level in order to put the organization in the best position it can be in. The last thing that an organization needs is for the e-discovery process to be burdened by software that complicates the process and takes control out of the lawyers’ hands. Because of design that requires users to have extensive computer training, software for searching electronic and email data oftentimes requires document reviewers to be supervised by staff from the information technology department. This problem is alleviated, however, with software like ReduceMail Pro E-Discovery, a tool for Lotus Notes that minimizes the involvement of information technology staff in the e-discovery process by being as user-friendly as possible. In addition, lawyers can use ReduceMail Pro E-Discovery to perform not only searches but other functions such as legal holds. The best kind of e-discovery software does not burden anybody. Rather, it allows good lawyers to best translate their abilities. That’s the team worth betting on. Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial. Anna Sandler December 22 2011 08:19:00 AMHere are five trends in email usage and Lotus Notes mail management we think we'll be seeing in 2012: 1. iPad use will increase greatly. And, as the use of iPads for viewing email and other documents grows, customers will expect a simplified Lotus Notes client. 2. Lotus Notes will stop losing market share. With increased interest from IBM in not just reviving but expanding Lotus Notes, this will be the year that Lotus Notes reclaims its place as an exceptional email management tool. With Jeff Schick at the head of Lotus Notes we will see more quality improvements and client simplification. 3. Lotus Notes will be recognized as the most secure email option. As cyber attacks grow on Gmail and Microsoft Exchange, and email security becomes a larger concern in general, Lotus Notes will start to emerge as the most secure email option. (Here are a few additional tips to avoid company information being compromised via email.) 4. Email e-Discovery guidelines will change. As the use of email continues to skyrocket, traditional e-Discovery guidelines will no longer be a viable solution for many litigation cases. 5. Companies will need a formal email retention policy. To keep up with the changing rules and regulations around email, and to minimize eDiscovery costs, it will be necessary to have a formal email retention policy outlining which emails are archived, and which are removed.
What do you think the big technology trends will be in 2012? Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial. Anna Sandler December 19 2011 11:15:00 AMThose of us who work as Lotus Notes administrators and developers are thinking, breathing, living email every day. What emails need to be archived? Retrieved? Deleted? Monitored? But at what point is there just too much email? I recently read an article at Law.com Discovery Order Relieves Party of Review of 65 Million E-documents which discusses how “a federal judge in a contract case has excused compliance with a discovery agreement that would have required the plaintiff to produce an estimated 65 million documents.” As the volume of email sent and received continues to grow, I wonder what will be the best ways in the future for companies to store and produce emails on request. Huge numbers of emails - like 65 million of them. Here at ReduceMail Pro, we think about these questions every day – and we’ve come up with great solutions to make sure organizations can archive what they need to keep, and delete what they don’t. We offer robust e-Discovery solutions. And yet, I am still left to wonder… is the time going to come when there is just too much email? What do you think? Can there ever be too much email, or do we just need good systems to manage and organize it? Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial. Anna Sandler December 16 2011 01:18:09 PMMany companies – even large ones – do not have an email retention policy. Here are three reasons why a company-wide email retention policy is important: 1. To establish company-wide practices. Without a formal email retention policy, there is no uniformity across an organization regarding which emails should be kept, and which emails should be deleted. Not only will individual employees make this decision differently, some people will spend significant time reviewing their emails, and deciding what to keep and what to toss – time that could be better spent doing something else. 2. To reduce company liability. The absence of a clear email retention policy can put a company at risk. Certain emails must be retained, but the recipients of these emails may not know they have an obligation to save them. An email retention policy can, and should, cover which emails must be retained for accounting, legal or other reasons. 3. To be ready for audit and e-Discovery requests. When a legal issue arises, no further emails can be deleted. Prior to such an occurrence, emails that are extraneous and unrelated should be deleted, or the overall quantity of email to be searched will be much bigger, creating higher costs and an overall strain on the company – and one that could be avoided.
ReduceMail Pro has enterprise solutions to solve any issue related to email retention.
We will work with you to put smart systems in place to support your company’s email retention policy. For example, our popular Archive product greatly decreases the time employees must spend culling emails for deletion. And our Audit and e-Discovery products make it possible to quickly and easily review and retrieve relevant emails from the many that are stored.
To learn more about how ReduceMail Pro can help manage your company’s Lotus Notes email retention contact us at anna@avabiz.com or call us at 1-646-825-9080. Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial. Anna Sandler December 15 2011 08:00:00 AMDo you worry about company emails containing confidential information being sent by employees – whether on purpose or by accident? ReduceMail Pro Journal is one way you can make sure your company's confidential information isn't being compromised via email communications. You can make sure your company emails are monitored by using ReduceMail Pro Journal, which is a state-of-the art journal management and audit system that enhances the native Lotus Notes R6, 7 and 8 journal functionality to provide a powerful Lotus Notes management and audit tool. The ReduceMail Pro Journal functionality compiles specified emails into Journal Extracts, and then searches those Journal Extracts for specific content as determined by the Lotus Notes administrator – an automated process that can be configured based on company requirements. Searches can be created for keywords, including domain names. For example, the “to field” of the emails could be searched for a competitor’s domain name, making it possible to ensure no emails are sent to those addresses. Similarly, relevant keywords can be searched that might be red flags requiring company oversight. Does your company have a system for reviewing and identifying emails that might contain sensitive or confidential information?
If you would like to learn more about how ReduceMail Pro Journal can help monitor and track your company’s information, as well as provide other security solutions, contact us at anna@avabiz.com. Evaluate ReduceMail Pro with a free trial. | |