Companies “clogged up” with email?

Businesses are struggling with bandwidth being used up by non-work emails, according to one software vendor.

Software vendor Clearswift estimates that more than 50 percent of bandwidth in most organisations is used by non business-related data.
 
Spam, as well as productivity and intellectual property losses were among the biggest content security concerns in Asia Pacific, the company said.

Chy Chuawiwat, managing director at Clearswift Asia Pacific, said email and the internet could be extremely dangerous to employers, because of legal liability and corporate fraud.
 
“Many organisations are unaware of the risks until something goes wrong,” Chuawiwat warned. “Email and the internet are easy and interpersonal forms of communication, and [are] more prone to accidents than other media – which means employees are more likely to become involved in inappropriate or illegal behaviour.”
 
Chuawiwat suggested organisation put in place what he described as a “3-e” approach. “Organisations must establish a policy that clearly states what constitutes business and personal email use,” he said. “Educate the workforce about the policy and the reasons for its existence, and enforce the policy using content security software.”