E-mail and GroupWare are the foundations to effective communications within organizations. Their integration allows the near instantaneous sharing of information across local or global organizations. E-mail is the natural replacement of the paper-based memo-method of information sharing. The use of E-mail streamlines operations within organizations by allowing communications between employees of different levels, bypassing the corporate hierarchy. E-mail also allows communication outside of the boundaries of the organization when linked to the Internet through network integration and proxy technologies

GroupWare integration is simply the logical extension of E-mail. GroupWare is a class of software that assists groups of colleagues in organizing their activities effectively and efficiently. GroupWare is a message-based system for collaborating projects and data. Acting similar to natural conversation, GroupWare in it’s simplest form is a collection of messages organized in a chronological fashion allowing any individual in the group to view the input of all other individuals participating in the database.

Lotus cc: Mail and Microsoft Mail are the most widely used proprietary E-mail systems. These systems provide the most robust features available in E-mail. Open standards based E-mail based on Internet mail standards are also very popular. It allows the use of much different client software to access the E-mail system.

GroupWare packages such as Louts Notes and Microsoft Exchange provide messaging functions and E-mail integration. Additional products such as Lotus Organizer and Microsoft Outlook can be added to allow group scheduling functions to your organization.