How to improve your company’s email system

The development of email has revolutionised the face of contemporary business, offering companies a fast, effective and borderless form of communication. The service has evolved in leaps and bounds since its early stages, with modern day users enjoying increased efficiency and flexibility that has never before been possible. Yet despite the cutting edge advancements, many companies still lag behind when it comes to making the most of email communication.

To help you improve your company’s email system, we’ve come up with this useful collection of suggestions that will ensure you, your employees and your business are taking full advantage of electronic mail.

Email security

While email offers unparalleled convenience and efficiency, the move to digital communications also presents a range of complex security threats. From malware, spam and phishing to DDoS attacks, data leakage and social engineering assaults, inbound and outbound email borne threats are a serious issue that every company should address.

A stringent security solution is particularly vital for companies dealing with sensitive dataand classified customer information such as credit card details or personal health records. The key is to enlist the services of a trusted email security provider with proven experience in managing risks without jeopardising productivity.

Large file sending

Despite the extensive benefits of email, many providers have not yet mastered the art of offering users large file sending capacity. It is an issue continually faced by email users who often struggle to share important content with email contacts due to pre-set file size sending limits. This forces users to resort to unofficial consumer applications, most of which lack adequate security, policy enforcement and archiving protection.

This not only endangers the security of company files but can also break serious compliance regulations. Mimecast offers an intelligent solution to the wide felt issue, its large file sending service providing a secure and reliable answer to bypassing corporate restrictions on file size limits. Compatible with Exchange and Office 365, the service allows IT departments to retain control while offering employees complete flexibility over email operations.  

Email archiving

With the rise of email has come the increased need to keep digital records in place of traditional paper documents. This is a critical part of modern day business, with some sectors legally required to uphold comprehensive email archiving records. Barclays Capital Inc is the latest company to fall victim to non-compliance offence, the enterprise was recently fined US$3.75 million by the The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to preserve electronic records, emails and instant messages. As well as regulatory compliance, instant access to email history also plays an important role in maximising employee productivity and easing the burden on email servers. As such, it is critical for companies to have an effective email archiving strategy in place. An increasing number of businesses are turning to cloud archiving technology, won over by its efficiency, cost effectiveness and unmatched flexibility.  

By following these three simple tips, you can empower your company with a secure, efficient and compliant email system that will help your business reach its full potential.

Happy Birthday Gmail! Google's email service turns 10.

Today is April 1st and is most notably associated with pranks and in practice on the web this normally means fake news stories or spoofs. Some of the best pranks in the past have been from Google such as Google TiSP (short for Toilet Internet Service Provider) from 2007 or making every YouTube video do a RickRoll in 2008.

It’s not all been about pranks though as on April 1st 2004 Google launched Gmail BETA. In the beginning the only way to get a Gmail account was through an invitation which in the early days was not easy to come by. Thankfully obtaining an invite to Google’s Gmail became much easier though it remained the only way to get an account until 2007.

Google took a very different approach for email than it’s competitors and this was clear right from the beginning. With a whopping 1GB of storage that eclipsed what Microsoft and Yahoo! offered at the time, people could stop deleting emails and instead archive them without fear of running out of space. Another key aspect to the Gmail experience was the search experience that Google were able to integrate into their email service allowing users to quickly find the email they were looking for.

Over the years Google has made many design changes to Gmail and although they may not have been welcomed with open arms to begin with people soon got used to them and even found them to be better in the long run. Looking back at how Gmail looked in 2004 it’s clear to see there have been quite a few cosmetic changes to Gmail over the years however it still feels very much like the Gmail that was launched in 2004 which is a solid email solution that just works.

 

Flickr founder plans to kill company e-mails with Slack

When Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield and his team realized that their online game Game Neverending wasn't going to be a hit, they turned the game's photo-sharing tool into a stand alone product -- and got lucky...

Read the full story here... Source: CNET

NSA 'secret backdoor' paved way to U.S. phone, e-mail snooping

The National Security Agency created a "secret backdoor" so its massive databases could be searched for the contents of U.S. citizens' confidential phone calls and e-mail messages without a warrant, according to the latest classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

A report in the Guardian on Friday quoted Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, as saying the secret rule offers a loophole allowing "warrantless searches for the phone calls or emails of law-abiding Americans..."

Read the full story here... Source: CNET

This Gmail 5 for Android Concept is Amazing

An Android developer and designer named Paul Burke recently published a set of photos to his Google+ page that re-imagines Gmail for Android. The photos show a stunning, simple and elegant user interface that incorporates all of your contacts and reorganizes your inbox so that it’s more intuitive and easier to use.

“I’ve been imagining what Gmail for Android could look like in a post-Google Now world,” Burke said. “After seeing the Gmail for iOS design, I was inspired to create a concept that adopts the best of both apps. The basic premise of this redesign is new navigation, and more focus on people and content. I’ve been working on this in tiny bursts for a while, and wanted to get more screens done, but at this rate, the actual app will come out first. I hope to, at least, get more done to show how the cards would work in the Conversation view.”

Burke warns, of course, that his concept won’t ever be created by Google and that these are sketches he developed in Photoshop. Google: take note.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Sky swamped with complaints after Yahoo email switch

Sky customers have been complaining in their droves after being deluged with thousands of irrelevant messages after the company switched email providers.

Sky switched from Google to Yahoo, but it's been far from a smooth transition, the BBC reports. Sky customers have been receiving old and deleted messages again and again, meaning hours of wasted time clearing out inboxes. Now Sky has offered a solution, but you're not going to like it.

Sky promised to have a fix sorted by 5pm yesterday, but it missed that deadline. It has posted astep-by-step guide to fixing your inbox, but it basically consists of 'delete any emails you don't want'. Which is exactly what many customers have been doing, and what had them up in arms in the first place.

Over on the support forums, one customer complained of having to sift through 17,000 unwanted emails. Others are also grumbling about not being able to send email, aliases being deleted, filters being reset, and Outlook just plain not working since the switch. Some say they can't even access their email accounts through a browser or on their mobiles, which will impact business and well as personal use.

I think the entry under "Everyone's Tags" at the bottom of this page sums up customer feeling on the matter.

Sky, which has more than 4 million broadband customers, says the problem occurred during migration of all email addresses to Yahoo's servers. As soon as the servers synchronise, the issue should be solved, according to Sky. Though there's no word on when that will be.

Shame it's not as confident as it was the other week about possible network strain.

[Source: CNET]

Gmail for iOS Updated with Ability to Swipe Between Messages

Google has updated its Gmail app to version 2.1, adding swipe controls that allow users to navigate backwards and forwards through emails without returning to the inbox. 

Edit mode is now initiated when a message in the inbox is selected, allowing users to quickly organize emails into folders and add labels from the action bar at the top of the screen.

-Swipe left or right to move between messages without returning to the inbox. 

-Take action on multiple messages more quickly: Selecting a message in the inbox now enables edit mode. Once in edit mode, tap on messages to select them and then choose to archive, delete, or more, from the new actions bar. You may select Cancel at any time to leave edit mode. 

-And of course: performance improvements and bug fixes.

[Source: MacRumors]

Dropbox acquires Mailbox, teases an email and cloud collaboration

That was fast. It was just a month ago that Mailbox launched its unique (if queue-ridden) email client for iPhone users, and today we're hearing that it's been acquired by Dropbox. While the two aren't explicit about their plans, the Mailbox crew makes clear that a Dropbox union will help scale its client, including to non-Gmail providers and more devices. The team also isn't shy about speculating about what could happen if Dropbox's cloud storage was "connected" to Mailbox. We'll just have to give the new partners some time to produce what could be an alluring software hybrid.

[Source: Engadget]

Gmail's mobile web interface now looks just like the app

I use Gmail pretty much exclusively for my incoming email, with three or four different accounts that redirect to my always online, easily accessible, and seemingly bottomless inbox. I thought the app the company recently released with a brand-new look was pretty impressive, and apparently so did the web designers at Google: They have just switched the mobile website to make it look just like the official Gmail app.

Unfortunately, the changes haven't proliferated to my corner of the web, but the screenshots of the new design look great -- nice and clean, with just a few important bits of color to keep your incoming messages straight. This version is also available on Gmail Offline, says Google, though strangely enough it hasn't made its way to the official Android client yet. I find a certain irony in the fact that the web interface is catching up to the official app interface, especially considering how the iOS app environment started as a series of web apps.

And who knows -- maybe the desktop web interface will see some of these changes soon. I'm used to the way it works now, but I'd be up for some tweaks and twists if they help unify the platform.

[Source: TUAW]

Microsoft Offers Workarounds for iOS 6.1 Exchange Bug

iOS 6.1, which was released two weeks ago, brought with it a handful of serious bugs. The first bug, which affected 3G performance on the iPhone 4S was fixed yesterday, followingApple's release of 6.1.1 for the iPhone 4S. 

The second bug involved an error that caused iOS devices running 6.1 to continuously loop when synchronizing a recurring calendar meeting invitation on Microsoft Exchange. This error, which causes excessive memory consumption, was not fixed with yesterday's 6.1.1 update. 

As noted by 9to5Mac Microsoft has published an official support document offering workarounds for the error. 

Microsoft offers up several fixes, including the recommendation not to process Calendar items like meeting requests on iOS 6.1 devices. The company also recommends immediately restarting the devices and renewing the device partnership to halt the continuous looping access. 

Devices using iOS 6.1 should be blocked or throttled, says Microsoft, in order to reduce the effect on server resources. 

While none of these options are true fixes, Microsoft mentions that it is working with Apple to investigate the issue and suggests customers open an Enterprise Support case with Apple, via Enterprise agreement or a pay-per-incident case report.

[Source: MacRumors]

Yahoo launches Mail redesign, with eye on speed and simplicity

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer used her company's official blog to announced a Mail redesign. According to the exec, the company's shiny new inbox was revamped with speed in mind, letting users access their messages "faster than ever before." Mayer also promised fewer distractions for consumers, with messages at the center of the new design, as well as a "consistent look and feel across devices," including platforms like Windows 8, iOS, Android and the web. All of Mayer's comments can be found in the source link below.

[Source: Engadget]