Re: Providing clients information via e-mail

["Parks, Beverly" <ParksB -at- EMH1 -dot- HQISEC -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

Because I work for the government, I'm sure my experience would not apply
directly. However, I think that your option 1 (clearninghouse) would be a
horrible thing to implement. Depending on the size of your company and the
amount of email traffic to clients, filtering email through a central point
for review would cause unnecessary delays.

Option 2 (automatic disclaimer) might work if it was worded properly. (I
have no idea how it should be worded.)

Option 4 might work partially. Perhaps only certain people/offices can
communicate with clients about very specific information, such as where
commitments, obligations, and money are concerned. Communicating information
outside those restricted areas is open to anyone, as the need arises.

Just some thoughts.

Bev Parks
parksb -at- emh1 -dot- hqisec -dot- army -dot- mil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger Morency [SMTP:rogerm -at- ONTARIO -dot- COM]
>
> Can anyone point me to a web site or white paper discussing the following
> issue?
>
> We are having an internal debate about the use of e-mail to communicate
> with
> our clients. Traditionalists are worried about the potential ramifications
> of e-mail sent to a client with wrong or inaccurate information. Others
> are
> pushing for increased use of direct e-mail to clients for everything from
> support issues to sales. We have started our own list server for clients
> to
> participate in product discussions, so they are willing participants in
> this
> exchange.
>
> Some questions that come up include:
>
> 1.      Should all e-mail sent to clients be reviewed and approved by a
> central clearinghouse? The argument for this is that it reduces the chance
> of wrong or misleading information being sent to a client. On the flip
> side,
> it is argued that we do not screen what our service representatives say
> over
> the phone, so why would an e-mail discussion be any different?
> 2.      Should a disclaimer be attached to the end of all e-mail
> transmissions that would limit the company's exposure?
> 3.      How do other companies handle this issue?
> 4.      Should only a subset of employees be allowed to communicate with
> clients using e-mail, or should client e-mail addresses be made available
> company wide.
>
> We are trying to deliver information to clients in a variety of forms and
> in
> the quickest way possible. E-mail seems like a great way to do it, but we
> need to make sure we do it the right way.
>
>

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=