AOL Move to IMAP: Good News for Small Biz E-Mail

Eloise Gonzalez knows America Online is no business tool.
The Internet communications provider's software wouldn't let her synchronize or organize her e-mail with that of her employees, and AOL's software lacked the interoperability she needed to work with Microsoft products. Moreover, two employees couldn't be online with AOL at the same time on the same account.

Gonzalez, owner of Commercial Interior Contractors Corp. in Miami, Fla., went so far as to secure the domain name cic-corp.com so she could receive e-mail using Microsoft's Outlook program.

Gonzalez retains her AOL address so old clients can still contact her, but said, "It's so much easier to handle internal records and documentation by using Outlook. That was a big limitation with AOL."

That's changing.

America Online is entering a brave, new world. For two decades, the company has forced subscribers to use its proprietary system to send, receive and manage e-mail.

While users could create and name folders and place in-bound and sent messages in those folders, they could not manage their e-mail in ways more common to other popular applications such as Microsoft's Outlook, Mac OS X and Eudora.

Then in April, AOL launched Open Mail Access. The new feature incorporates IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol, to allow subscribers to fetch and send e-mail using third-party software.

It could be an important move for small business users. Among the company's 24 million subscribers are countless entrepreneurs and small business owners who use AOL.

IMAP, which has been available to subscribers to the AOL subsidiary CompuServe for years, lets users store messages on the AOL server, as well as download them to their personal computer.

"Our small business customers wanted something more advanced to access, better organize and search mail," said Roy Ben-Yoseph, director of e-mail products for AOL.

Once their desktop or laptop computers are configured to access AOL Mail, and the user ID and password are installed, subscribers can check e-mail by simply accessing the Internet and launching their preferred e-mail software. They will not have to log on to AOL to check e-mail.

But those switching to IMAP will not be able to automatically move e-mail in their existing AOL folders to folders in their new e-mail application. Users essentially will have to e-mail the messages to themselves, then place them in the new folders on the new software application.

Opening its e-mail platform could make AOL more relevant in today's changing Internet environment, said Neil Fishman, senior technician at 911PCService.com, a Pompano Beach, Fla., computer consultancy.

While he lauds the move to IMAP, Fishman still recommends to his new clients who are on AOL to consider switching to a traditional Internet service provider such as Comcast Cable, Earthlink or Joi Internet.

However, AOL's move to IMAP could help subscribers organize their communications and help AOL hold onto subscribers, Fishman said.

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.