Spam is Hurting Small Business

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A recent survey conducted by InsightExpress for Symantec Corp. reveals that small businesses are considering taking substantial steps to stem the flow of spam if the onslaught continues. According to the 500 small businesses surveyed, 42% would consider abandoning e-mail for business if spam worsened; 55% would consider changing their company e-mail addresses to stop spam; and 56% would consider locking down their e-mail servers to allow only approved messages through, which would also require those people who wanted to correspond with the company to go through an approval process.

Even though the businesses aren't spending a lot of time deleting the spam they receive, they are finding it a drain on resources: 54% said spam cost their business in lost user producitivity; 37% said it ate up server and disk storage space; and 35% said it hurts connnection time.

Certainly, the influx of spam is hurting businesses and productivity, but turning off e-mail for business could hurt productivity even more. The problem is so pervasive that one can only hope new innovations in the fight against spam and a law that is exercised and enforced will put more spammers out of business, much like a recent ruling in California did.