Today's harried PR executives are finding that electronic mail
has become an indispensable tool in their everyday activities. And for
many it is probably hard to fathom a time when the only choices of
communication between colleagues were telephone, traditional mail
delivery, or face-to-face meetings.
"I can't imagine operating without it," says Jim Horton, senior
director at Robert Marston and Associates, New York.
While most PR executives understand the basics of e-mail, the
technology of sending, receiving and reading messages and files is
changing rapidly. This article is both a refresher course and an
update on the new features of e-mail.
Internal, and Internet
Among the must-have e-mail functions are internal and external
transmission, routing and screening features and mailing lists.
E-mail messages can be sent two ways: the first is through LAN-based
(local area network) proprietary programs such as Lotus cc: Mail,
Lotus Notes, Microsoft Corp. Notes, or Novell Inc. Groupwise.
Messages also can be sent over the Internet or through products like
Netcom Online Communication (direct access provider) and CompuServe or
America Online Inc. (online networks with Internet links).
Chris McKie, senior associate of PR firm Lois Paul and Partners,
says that compared to the Internet, internal e-mail uses proprietary
programs such as cc:Mail, lending more control over message
transmission. "It's like we're all part of the same network where
we're all speaking the same language," he said.
Communication Made Easy
Bill McLaughlin, executive vice president of Lois Paul, says the
best thing about e-mail is that "you can communicate when it's most
convenient for you."
Purposes from a PR standpoint include staying in touch with
reporters and analysts, sending basic notes and alerts, distributing
documents for review among team members and sharing documents with
clients.
E-mailing also allows broadcast sending of messages to an
unlimited number of addresses--internally or externally.
McLaughlin's firm uses Lotus Notes, which gives full support and
accessibility to multiple formats, through built-in gateways.
Packages such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft's Exchange Server
offer mobile e-mail packages designed to provide information without
having to stay connected to the server. When the user is on the road,
a "replication" service downloads e-mail to a mobile computer, where
it can be read, edited, answered, and sent back by modem. More
traveling options from Lotus include the cc:Mail mobile system,
offering fax, wireless, and cross-platform user services.
Sending/Receiving Messages
When sending internal e-mail on a LAN-based program, the user has
a high level of assurance that the message will go through to the
receiver, with no alterations, if both users have the same program.
If the user's program differs from the receiver's, the message or an
attached file needs to be translated by the receiver's system, or
gateway.
Sending attachments through the Internet is not as reliable a
process. If the receiver does not have a strong network line, a
gateway for attachments, or if the program does not recognize
characters--for example, italics or bold--the message could get lost
in the ether.
Sending/Receiving Graphics
Graphic images can be sent internally as an attachment, usually
without much problem. When sending pictures and graphics over the
Internet, the transmission should succeed if both sender and receiver
are using the same e-mail package or service.
However, whether or not the attachment will come out as a file or
encoded depends on the e-mail system used. Encoding and decoding is
not a problem, with formats such as bin hex (binary hexadecimal, for
Macintosh) MIME or UUENCODE/UUDecode.
Depending on factors such as the size and number of images sent,
network bandwidth, and the speed of the receiver's modem, the graphics
create a large memory demand. The system could clog up and take a
long time to upload, also costing more money to stay online.
If an image is anywhere from 800 kilobytes to one megabyte, it
should be "compressed." This can be done over the Internet or via
commercial online services such as America Online or CompuServe via an
industry standard compression format called JPEG. To retrieve images,
formats like Photoshop by Adobe Systems Inc. can be used.
Charts or other graphics are generally smaller than pictures and
can go through without being compressed.
Most Popular E-mail Software
The five top selling LAN-based e-mail packages:
1. Lotus cc: Mail- 9 million seats (installed computers);
2. Microsoft Mail- 7 million seats;
*Microsoft Exchange was released in April, now has 60,000 seats and
is expected to rise to the top five within one year;
3. Novell GroupWise- more than 5.5 million seats;
4. Lotus Notes- 4.5 million seats;
5. SoftArc FirstClass- over 4 million seats.
Source: Electronic Messaging News, Phillips Business Information Inc.