Trick question
<Quote>Just how valuable is email to business operations? This is an important question that business and IT people rarely consider.<endquote>
Was this a trick question ?
Depending on the business, Email is the number 2 tool after the ERP. And on some occasions Email is directly linked into the ERP.
It's not a question of importance, it's more of a case that Email is the business.......
Obviously, by business I mean corporate entities, not business such as Cabinet Makers or Key Cutters. ( No offence to either).
I wouldn't even like to begin to estimate how many companies would simply be incapable of BAU if the email server went down... An hour is already a "huge" amount of time for some....never mind days or worse..
It is actually quite ridiculous to compare email to FB or Twitter, they are very different products designed for very different users. Email is an electronic messaging systems ( kind of replaces Ye Olde Worlde hand written personal letter), FB and Twitter are electronic "chatting" systems ( they replace more the Backyard Chatter over the Garden Fence).