Everybody has heard of the 80/20 rule, also called the Pareto principle, which states that in many cases, business and otherwise, 80% of the effects come only from 20% of causes. Email is no exception - however, the ratio is far more extreme.

Our analysis of large messaging environments over many years has revealed that in most companies 80% of the corporate messaging resources are being consumed by only about 1% of all employees.

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Another chapter in the saga surrounding millions of missing White House emails was written this week, when judge John Facciola ordered the Bush administration to collect and preserve all emails stored in .pst files including data copied onto portable media such as flash drives.

While there are many theories about the missing emails, reaching from government conspiracy to sheer incompetence, I would side with the latter.

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Feeling the urge to check your Blackberry during meetings? Many people find this disruptive and disrespectful. One company, DDB Canada, is now implementing a penalty card system as found in soccer.

“Over the past year, I’ve become increasingly aware of and annoyed by staff who use their BlackBerries during meetings,” says Frank Palmer, chairman and CEO of DDB Canada. “Whether it’s done openly or covertly under the table, using a PDA during a meeting is completely unacceptable, disrespectful and hinders the progress of the meeting. While these devices are considered time-savers, they’re also extremely intrusive.”

Colleagues will show the yellow card to first offenders, followed by a red card for repeat misconduct. Receiving a red card results in the employee footing that month’s mobile services bill.

Technorati Tags: blackberry, etiquette

We all receive emails from automated services such as payment reminders, news alerts or other opt-in communications. The emails are computer-generated and the sender typically includes a notice asking the recipient not to reply to the message, since the sending account is not being monitored. Apparently, some companies go one step further and put an invalid return address in the message envelope.

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eWeek ‘s Debra Donston’s top ten list on email etiquette. My favorites:

• Don’t expect that readers will be able to interpret tone. Maybe you were just kidding, but you can’t be sure how your sparkling wit will translate in black and white.
• Don’t respond to an e-mail when tensions are high. You’ll regret it. Believe me.
• Don’t send an e-mail you wouldn’t want forwarded. Because someone will. Believe me.

Perhaps this little slide show can be the basis for an educational campaign on proper email use within your company.

Technorati Tags: email best practice

Many companies are starting to look at ways to either reduce or slow down the ever increasing spending on their messaging infrastructure. Not only has the amount of email traffic grown exponentially in recent years, new regulatory retention requirements for electronic communications are adding huge additional expense to IT operations and infrastructure budgets.

So how do you trim the fat? – Start looking for bacn bits.

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