Overflowing inboxes have become a constant irritation for businesses trying to manage their email successfully. With an overwhelming amount of emails contained within inboxes, trying to find that one you need quickly is like looking for a needle in a haystack!
We hear from clients all the time about how they suffer from the limitations of the Outlook search tool when it comes to trying to locate important emails. Instead of helping staff become more productive, email correspondence has resulted in unmanaged inboxes with a considerable potential for risk and spiralling costs.
Introducing an organised email management process into the business will not only ease your frustration but will also help you locate critical information faster to help you resolve disputes effortlessly, keeping your reputation and relationship with suppliers intact.
So, what is the solution to reaching the elusive ‘inbox zero’ and keeping it? Mail Manager has some top tips for businesses to implement to ensure that email works for you rather than against you!
1. Have a destination for every email that comes into your inbox
How many times have staff kept important emails and documents locked in their inbox and just allowed them to pile up so that their inbox has come to resemble a library rather than a productive To-Do list? If your answer is more than once, you need to re-evaluate your company strategy for organising email and documents.
Everyone manages their email differently, and here is where the problem lies. Companies often do not have a standard filing process set out across the business, so employees are left to file (or not file) how they see fit. Even for those that do have a process in place, they are finding that, in reality, it is not fit for purpose. What’s worse, should a team member be absent or leave the business, crucial information can be missed or trapped in their inbox indefinitely!
2. Use a centralised document storage system
Email is the primary method of communication for most companies, so introducing a centralised location for filing emails and necessary attachments would be hugely beneficial. Once an email is read, it should be instantly sent to its appropriate central location.
Using a tool such as Microsoft SharePoint provides a multi-functional solution to many data management issues, and it’s likely, it is already available on your internal server! The web-based management platform enables businesses to improve communication between teams using data lists, document libraries, meeting workspaces, and task calendars.
3. Introduce more visible collaboration
Are you still relying on being CC’d into emails to keep up with the most recent updates? If your answer is yes, then it’s highly likely that you are acting off outdated information and that many other communications are going on with varying members of the team that, despite best intentions, not everyone has been privy to. Unfortunately, this usually results in decisions based on old data that can cause delays or duplications.
Making email communications and essential data more transparent to everyone dealing with a project or particular client will increase the firm's productivity and ensure that everyone on the team has access to the most recent developments in real-time, so they will always be working from the same data. Never again will a project be stalled due to employee absence as anyone can pick up project and client work instantly to be business as usual. This is where adopting an email management system like Mail Manager can revolutionise your business.
Is it time to implement an email management solution?
While implementing a central filing system for managing staff inboxes is a step in the right direction, on its own, it is still not a perfect solution. As soon as businesses start to expand, the room for human error and risk increases. The reality is that staff often get busy and forget to file critical emails and attachments, and if they ever leave, this information will likely be lost forever. The answer is to stop manually organising your emails and implement an automated system that does the heavy lifting for you.
Mail Manager uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to predict where your email will need to go and automatically file it away safely within your chosen destination. Staff won’t forget to file as they will receive a prompt when closing an email, so filing becomes an effortless habit.
Discover how Mail Manager can help your firm immediately take control of email management with a free trial!
