TweetBeep: Email Still Reigns Supreme
By: Amy Dugdale | Posted: 2010-01-06First things first - happy 2010 to all our readers!
Without question, Twitter was a big topic of conversation and debate in 2009. Late last year, a WSJ writer published an article on "Why Email No Longer Rules." Over 200 folks commented on the article and many declared their continued allegiance to email. Osterman Research even rang in with survey results that revealed that 94% of respondents believe email is still their most valuable tool for getting work done. Add me to the hand raisers on that one - do you know how I monitor Twitter? I get TweetBeeps emailed to me - this method also ensures that I can go into my archive and search for old tweets in my Personal Archive folder whenever I want.
What's my point here? I'll cut to the chase. Sometimes curiosity gets the better of us around here and with 2009 coming to a close, we decided to do our own informal research on email vs. Twitter. Our research uncovered an interesting fact - guess what folks tweet about on a regular basis? Email. Yup, that's right. When you get right down to it, people have a relationship with email - sometimes they love it, sometimes they hate it, but at the very root - they still NEED it and tweet about it.
Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 10 email-related tweets last month:
1. zappify: first gmail is down, then they're taking down the bay bridge... what next?
2. cdbnyc: No, but seriously work email. I will kill you if you freeze. KILL YOU. I want to finish & go home, not sit here waiting for you to function.
3. GordonJewett: Got the nicest email I've ever received today. Should help offset the angry emails from clients 
4. invig: Deleted an email (to trash), tried to undo the delete (from trash), exchange makes the email disappear. Good work Microsoft.
5. FawnDoo: Ah, Outlook. You're showing me my inbox, I ask to see the sent items folder. It's only fair that you crash at my unreasonable demand.
6. nilicule: At least I've narrowed down the reason for my system crashes: pressing 'reply' in Outlook.
7. linuxchiq: How should i deal with email overload? One email at a time? Declare bankruptcy? I hate email. =(
8. Toberina: Do they know its Christmas? My email server clearly does as it just decided to stop working. Aaahh!
9. Lesilieburleigh: Ok, I went 4 days without email and thought it was liberating. Today my server is down and I am having a panic attack!
10. VeronicaLudwig: Is gmail down for anyone else or do they just hate me again today?
SaaS Security, the Age-Long Debate
By: Joe Diamond | Posted: 2009-09-17Michael Osterman of Osterman Research submitted an entry to Messaging Wire a couple of days ago about the misconception that the SaaS delivery model is less secure than your average on-premise solution.
He made some excellent points and did so in short order. The following two resonated with me:
- Education is the key. Take the time to help decision makers understand how secure (or insecure) their on-premise infrastructure and data transmission actually is.
- Help prospective customers to understand that their internal security procedures may be giving them a false sense of security. Is it particularly difficult for an employee to gain access to a server room and run off with a backup tape or external storage device? In many cases, it's not.
Osterman goes on to suggest that leading SaaS providers are able to offer better security because they have access to far more resources than most organizations do with their on-premise implementations. We couldn't agree more.
This entry is just a precursor to a study that Osterman Research will be publishing shortly. We're certainly interested in seeing and addressing the statistics associated with the security aspect of SaaS.
