I’m sure it wasn’t intended as a humor piece, but this morning’s NPR radio report about the e-mail gaffe that occurred at the Bush White House in 2002 and 2003 was fine entertainment. In particular, this quote from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy from 2007 made me laugh: “That’s like saying the dog ate my homework. Those e-mails are there. They just don’t want to produce them.”

While many companies do have admirable archiving systems in place, just as many firms leave the details up to chance, the honor system, and other faulty methods.

Although I have never tried to get out of an assignment by saying a dog ate my homework, I have fouled up plenty, and confessing was quite difficult in some cases. But, what I have learned over the years is that if you ask for help, you will commit fewer blunders and have less mess to clean up.*

Back to the government e-mail issue. According to an article by Computerworld’s Patrick Thibodeau, the whole mess stemmed from a Domino/Notes-to-Microsoft Exchange migration. The old archiving system was phased out, but the new one was never implemented. From that point on, Thibodeau explains, the government manually archived messages. The result was millions of “missing” e-mails. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney FAIL, This Week in Tech News archiving, Douglas Schweitzer, e-mail, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, NPR, Patrick Thibodeau, Sen. Patrick Leahy

In an article published Friday on Computerworld.com, senior editor Patrick Thibodeau points out the ways PC Helps competes with 100,000-employee offshore outsourcers. He notes two ways in particular our company sets itself apart from the Bangalore all-in-ones: the inclusion of iPhones in the 160+ applications we support (not many outsourcers are offering iPhone support as of yet) and our personal delivery of services.

We particularly liked this line: “[PC Helps] focuses on personal, rather than rote step-by-step, delivery of its services, and doesn’t send customers up various tiers. It has carved out a place for itself.”

Thanks, Computerworld!

Click here to read the article on Computerworld.com.

Click here for Patrick Thibodeau’s blog.

MORE INFO IN: 5 Lessons to Learn Before Outsourcing | Contact PC Helps Support

Jenny Sweeney Outsourcing Bangalore, Computerworld.com, Patrick Thibodeau, shameless self-promotion