Remember when you would pick an e-mail system based on its unique capabilities? Maybe you’d pick cc:Mail or IBM PROFS or even Microsoft Mail for the ability to shuttle e-mail around your company with a reasonable assurance that the message would get to the intended recipient.
The rise of the Internet and the World Wide Web forever upended the dynamics of e-mail, making it as easy to send mail to Moscow as it is to send mail to a co-worker down the hall. Uniqueness was out, and the ability to play well with others became the deciding factor on corporate e-mail.
For the CIO, uniqueness may be back in. I’ve been noticing lately all the plans to set up private Internets, private Webs and cost-based e-mail. This marks the third big change for the technology manager.