But information technology professionals and e-mail managers today have probably only seen the tip of the iceberg. Sure e-mail volumes double every year and many corporations are deploying or already managing their second or even third-generation messaging systems.
For those with the most up-to-date platforms, migrations brought on by merger or acquisition are the issue of the day. For the vast majority, the issue is more trying to keep up with the entire technology wave while providing e-mail dial-tone with limited budgets.
Yet looking ahead to
the next century, it is safe to say that electronic messaging
is just starting to become mainstream. It will continue to become
more ubiquitous as individuals rely more and more on e-mail and
real-time information access in every facet of their lives. Society
will continue to become more message-centric, as we communicate
with our families to automating business processes and everything
in between. Based purely on personal observations and years of
conversations with CIOs, e-mail managers, analysts, software vendors
and telecommunications service providers, it is becoming increasingly
evident that messaging technology will evolve in both consumer
and business circles and basically touch everything all individuals
do. There's no looking back. In fact as more consumers use e-mail
for routine communications, it will have an even more taxing affect
on how company's consider their information systems and messaging
architectures. That said, here's one view, without statistical
validation, of what IT managers thinking about the next century
might want to consider as requirements for so-called messaging
dial-tone.
Ubiquitous Access
Users will demand the option to retrieve their messages
from any device, regardless of location and time. It will be up
to IT organizations to make that possible, securely. Gateways
to the Internet that let users access their messages from Web
browsers, already allow users to retrieve mirror images of their
mailboxes. However many IT shops are not taking advantage of these
new capabilities, due to concerns about security. But as Web kiosks
start to crop up in shopping malls, airports and hotels, users
will see these as a nice option to lugging their laptops around.
Consumer Use of E-Mail
Your job might be to handle a corporate messaging system,
but the rate at which homes are capable of receiving e-mail, either
through PCs, televisions or new information appliances, will increase
exponentially. And make no mistake, those systems will be linked
to your networks, whether it's employees trying to send e-mail
via the Internet to the kids (perhaps carrying alphanumeric pagers)
to consumers expecting messages after an order was placed via
the Web. We see this today, when someone orders a computer from
Dell over the Internet, and they receive an e-mail confirming
their order. Electronic commerce applications and transaction
processing systems will generate more routine messages, based
on specific events.
Mail-Enabled Applications
Once used for high end-business critical applications,
expect to see more users clamor for mainstream processes to be
automated. As more data is gathered electronically (i.e., from
handheld computing devices), individuals will demand more than
ever to see forms like expense reports and purchase orders processed
through the network.
Universal Messaging
This will be the longest in coming but the inbox that gathers
all information is already evolving. When the majority of users
can receive any message type, such as faxes, in that inbox remains
to be seen. Less certain is whether the inbox will become a common
option for retrieving voice mail.
Interoperability
The notion that messaging systems were once disparate will
eventually become a distant memory. Integration and migration
will continue into the next century. The obsolescence of many
systems is already forcing the installation of newer systems,
which connect to other modern systems, through the Internet, at
the lowest common denominator.
Reliability
This is the common denominator which can be applied to
the above-mentioned items. Internet standards, software and hardware
will someday evolve to the point where getting a message of any
type can be delivered in near real-time. Customers will demand
it. The issue of guaranteed delivery someday will not be a factor.
The only question to all of this is, when?
Jeff Schwartz will be speaking on the
"Universal Messaging Wars"
session on Wednesday, April 29 from 4:30-6:00 at
EMA'98 in Anaheim,
California.