Despite the emergence of new communications tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, email remains critical in the modern organisation. Not only is it still a key channel for communication, but it contains sensitive information such as contracts, financial documents, HR information, proposals and more. Additionally, email is the primary method of communicating with external parties - Slack and co are deemed not formal enough for client or third-party communications.
However, email is also one of the biggest bottlenecks for organisations as information remains trapped within individuals inboxes. Employees waste hours manually filing and searching for emails, and forgotten emails create a lack of accountability. In fact, according to McKinsey, responding, reading and organising emails takes up 28% of the average workers week. With the amount of emails we send and receive every day growing exponentially, we must find ways to make email work smarter and more effectively.
With people spending so much time using email, it's time for organisations to transform the way they use it, with the benefits of smarter email management already being realised by market leaders. So, if you are continually frustrated by not being able to find files buried deep in Outlook, or have a lack of visibility on project communications, this is for you.
Here are three reasons to challenge how you manage email.
1. Better business visibility
The main challenges we see every day is employees only having access to their own emails. We call this ‘email hoarding’. The problem is, within the AEC industry, most people work in teams so it’s not much use only having access to your emails. You need access to everyone's.
Why is it an issue? Well, what if a certain staff member leaves your business and you have no visibility of agreements they had previously made as you couldn’t access their inbox? Or, what if a colleague goes on holiday and had critical project information in their individual inbox that nobody else could access?
It's a common issue for businesses who are struggling to share information. Nobody wants to rely purely on cc’ing colleagues in, or using an alias to keep people in the loop. This leads to 'email overload' meaning people cc'ing everyone in as a catch all. It is common for staff not to read all emails, resulting in fears that critical information was being missed.
The good news is it doesn't have to be this way. Using an email management solution can enable all emails to be stored centrally and be accessible by everybody working on a project - this can be done incredibly quickly, so now when people leave a business or are on short contracts it’s not a problem. With Mail Manager, you can remedy this challenge overnight.
No more emails locked in personal inboxes.
2. Futureproof your business operations
With regulatory requirements becoming more stringent and a growing need to be able to mitigate risks by quickly finding sensitive information, poor email management should no longer be an excuse. Ask yourself, do you have the email capabilities to carry out a proper audit trail to pass the latest, and ever-evolving, regulatory requirements, particularly relating to the 'Golden Thread'? Or, have you ever had difficulty in finding all email communications relating to a particular project - for instance, when having to provide evidence that you had adhered to certain regulations or instructions?
Good email management, that is adopted company-wide, helps keep your business compliant, reduces the risks of financial penalties, and futureproofs project delivery, even if your entire project team have moved on to new pastures. In just a few seconds, you’ll be able to find any email from any employee (past and present) about any project.
Don't be litigation reactive, be litigation ready.
3. Use AI to work more intelligently
As with most things, not all email management tools are created equal. We put email management at our very core, it's what we do. We think dragging and dropping emails is a waste of time and inconsistent at best, and it isn't good enough to just have emails in an archive solution, we believe you need them organised by Project. Mail Manager is backed by a powerful AI-engine which enables automated email activities. Say goodbye to manual filing, which always meets failure when employees have to do the task themselves. If you want your email to be safe and accessible, our AI-engine is for you.
Our prompts and behaviour monitoring mean you don't need to rely on your staff to file and archive emails. You can have peace of mind that all emails are being filed in a consistent manner.
Don't make your employees work harder, make your emails work smarter.
An email management tool that can help deliver project success
Mail Manager implements in 24 hours (begone long software implementation times), meaning you can quickly get a better handle on email overload, making Outlook work better for your business.
To see how Mail Manager can help, check out our animated video below, or get a personalised demo here.
