that message comes up much too often when you're online, you may be suffering from email overload. Fortunately, there are effective new ways to take control of your email in-box, computer users report. Created more than 30 years ago as a communication tool to help users stay connected to the people and things that are important to them, email is now the communication method of choice by individuals and corporations alike. By 2005, the numberof person-to-person emails sent on an average day will exceed 36 billion, reports IDC, a high-tech industry research firm. As email usage has surged, so has the incidence of junk email, spam and viruses. The result: cluttered email in-boxes and the need for alternatives. Among the most popular and effective: Instant messaging (IM). Offering instantaneous, real-time connections with friends and co-workers, IM is rapidly gaining acceptance as a legitimate communication tool, at home and in the business world. Businesses will spend $133 million on IM applications in 2002 and more than $1 billion by 2005, IDE projects. Dubbed “the sleeping giant of the Internet,” Gartner research predicts that by next year, 70 percent of all companies will be using IM. Another alternative to email: desktop collaboration software such as Groove, provided by Groove Networks of Beverly, Mass. Groove brings together a wide range of communication tools in one package, providing a solution some say is ten times better than using email alone. In Groove, users establish private, invitation- Managing Email Overload @ Desktop collaboration software brings communication tools together in one package. only “shared spaces” with people they know. In these spaces, they can surf the Web together, share calendars, photos or files, and have discussions using IM, chat and voice. Groove is used by business teams working together on projects, small businesses needing an affordable solution for quickly and easily collaborating with customers and partners, and frequent travelers needing to stay connected to work and family. “The real power of Groove comes from having the full collection of tools in one place, at one’s fingertips,” says Charlie Nagelschmidt, a Principal at iMarch Partners LLC and an avid Groove user. “There are tools for the individual, tools that facilitate sharing and tools that are a foundation for distance collaboration. The most useful tool truly depends on the need at hand—the power comes from Groove having a wide array of tools to help!” Tools such as IM and desktop collaboration software, it seems, can help many of us regain the ease of communication and incereased productivity that email once provided, experts agree. To learn more about Groove and to download free software, visit: www.groove.net/naps.
