Patent ID: 8352564

Claim:
A system for data collection, comprising: a computer processor; an e-mail server; a first surrogate e-mail address corresponding to a first specialized software program external to the e-mail server; and a second surrogate e-mail address corresponding to a second specialized software program external to the e-mail server; and a message server executing on the computer processor and configured to: identify, in the e-mail server, a first e-mail message comprising the first surrogate e-mail address; match the first surrogate e-mail address to the first specialized software program; extract, from the first e-mail message, a first instruction directed to the first specialized software program; execute the first instruction to modify a first data element of the first specialized software program; identify, in the e-mail server, a second e-mail message comprising the second surrogate e-mail address; match the second surrogate e-mail address to the second specialized software program; extract, from the second e-mail message, a second instruction directed to the second specialized software program; and execute the second instruction to modify a second data element of the second specialized software program.