This month’s issue of Inc. Magazine features an interview with Ipswitch CEO, Roger Greene. As a part of the Boston Innovators section, Roger addresses how the company has managed to thrive despite poor economic conditions. Ipswitch’s success can be attributed to products that allow businesses to do more with less. Each of the three divisions (Network Management, File Transfer and Messaging) play an integral part in fulfilling the company’s mission “to produce simple software solutions for complex problems.” Greene says it clearly, “At Ipswitch, we make productivity easy.”
To read the article in its entirety and learn more about the software solutions that Ipswitch offers, click on the following link: http://www.imailserver.com/resources/pdf/webIpswitch0310INCMABO.pdf
Customer Service meets Twitter
Hi. I’m Tripp and I am an iPhone user. Ok, I am an iPhone addict. I have a few apps that I call my “brainless” apps – these are the ones I look at when I have absolutely nothing better to do. Sometimes they elicit a chuckle, other times they just help me relax and go to sleep (“The Daily Show” or the “Colbert Report” have the same effect). I have a few other apps I use for news, FB, sports scores and stuff like that. But, I’ve never really been into games, until I recently found this one ….
A few weeks ago I discovered a game called “Words with Friends”. It is just like scrabble except that you can have multiple games running at once. You can play random opponents or play against your friends and you make your moves at your leisure. I find this game to be highly addictive. So, I have convinced myself that the game helps exercise the brain as well as assist in learning new words.
Last Sunday after making a move I received an “oops” screen. Having seen this before I assumed that read more…
At what point does checking your email become unhealthy? I’ve read several articles this week about a study conducted by Osterman Research stating that 95% of respondents check their business email outside of work. Is that a high percentage? Yes. Is it particularly alarming or disturbing? Not really. But what really intrigued me is where and when respondents are checking their email. Nights, weekends, vacations, weddings, funerals, intimate moments, and yes….even the toilet. No time or place is too sacred I guess.
So do we need to detox from our inbox? Or are we just becoming incredibly effective at multi-tasking?
There is no doubt that the ability to stay connected to email via mobile device is extremely useful. Any mail server worth their weight in gold enables mobile synchronization. It’s become an expectation, not just a feature. And for good reason. We can respond quickly, collaborate from remote locations and stay connected to our calendars, tasks and contacts at all times. Many would argue that mobile messaging is business critical. According to Osterman, “…this year’s study finds that employees rely so heavily on mobile e-mail availability that if service went down, even for an hour, 85 percent of respondents indicated that it would impact their business work flow.”
It’s an invaluable convenience. No doubt. But how do we prevent too much of a good thing? The definition of compulsion is an irresistible persistent impulse to perform an act such as excessive hand washing (or in this case checking your email). If you find yourself at your daughter’s wedding hiding behind the ice sculpture with your Blackberry or driving 12 miles out of town during the family trip to Big Bear Mountain just to make sure that contract came in from your vendor…..you might have reached the point of compulsion. It’s time to put down the phone, set your email auto-responder and enjoy a little time off. Hey, there’s always the car ride home…if you’re not the one driving of course.
So I’m looking at status updates yesterday and my friend says that her crops are going to die because she’s giving up Facebook for Lent. This just speaks to the addiction that is social media these days. Keeping up with the constant feeds, links, threads, updates, notifications, farms, zoos….it’s all become too much for the average person. So it’s not surprising that the current focus in the industry is consolidation.
Enter Google. Their latest answer to our overwhelming communication woes is Google Buzz. Now, unlike many other bloggers out there, I’m not even going to touch the issue of Google’s “auto-follow” option or the impending privacy issues that they face. I’ve read countless articles over the last few days and it appears that Google is on top of the matter. HUGE faux pas but enough is enough already. Moving on….
My main issue is this incessant need to combine all things communication into one platform. WHY??? I’m all for the convenience of a “one-stop-shop” but that’s not always the answer. Case in point…every morning I put on 4 different types of lotion. Why? Because each read more…
How good is your reputation?
New Scientist. Well, that’s their claim anyway. But I disagree. They report that a group of computer scientists have claimed to develop an “effectively perfect” method for blocking spam. YAWN. Same story. Different writer. Different day. Fact is by the time I started researching this “new” method, Amir Lev, CTO at Commtouch had already blogged it and effectively said, “kudos guys…you invented what we’ve been doing all along.”
The magic behind Commtouch is RPD. RPD stands for Recurrent Pattern Detection. In layman’s terms: the technology identifies and classifies message patterns. It analyzes massive amounts of traffic in real time; searches for patterns that will classify a message as spam and then using that information it identifies malicious messages and blocks them from your inbox, all within minutes of an outbreak. RPD blocks 98% of spam and maintains a tiny false positive level.
In a nutshell, it all boils down to your reputation. If you send relevant mail from your server you maintain a good reputation. You start sending irrelevant mail and you develop a bad reputation. Once that bad reputation is in place you get blacklisted and now you have extra work on your hands.
I remember when I was in college. I had the reputation of being an outdoorsy guy who spent more time on his mountain bike in the woods than in the classroom. When people wanted a great place to hike or ride…they would call me for advice. If they needed advice on physics or molecular biology they called…well…anyone but me. Why? Because I had ZERO credibility in that area. Your reputation attracts a specific niche audience. Commtouch’s reputation speaks for itself and that is part of the reason we’re a satisfied business partner with them. The New Scientist? Well…I’ll just leave that there.
As for spam? We don’t like it. We don’t ask for it. It’s effectively a pain and a nuisance. But there are some solid anti-spam solutions available. We chose Commtouch because of the reputation of their technology, its ease-of-use, and affordability. The solution you choose needs to meet your specific needs as well as provide you with rock-solid protection. I am interested though…what solutions are you using? How are you using them? How effective are they? How much maintenance is required on your part? Leave your comments below.
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