5plus architects is a creative, award-winning design studio operating as one practice across offices in London and Manchester. They deliver the core services of architecture, masterplanning, urban design, interiors, graphics and branding across a range of sectors, and are founded on collaborative principles.
Lengthy projects create email challenges
5plus architects implemented Mail Manager when the business started operating in 2010. Adam Thornton, Founding Director of 5plus architects, shared that Mail Manager was a solution he had used at previous companies he worked with, and made the decision to carry it through to 5plus architects.
As many architecture firms would know, projects can last a long time. In 5plus architects' experience, for a project that spans over nine years, such as a hotel, the sheer amount of correspondence that needs to be stored is astronomical. In one instance, 5plus architects had over 50,000 emails corresponding to a single project that needed to be stored. By implementing Mail Manager, all correspondence was easily stored with the job, and accessible by all employees.
As Adam explains: "Without Mail Manager, there could be emails in someone's inbox, there could be some on our Google Drive, there could be some in the cloud. In our case, all of those emails are stored with the job, in the job folder, in that suitcase. So all the drawings, all the letters and all the emails sit together in one place. That's one of the benefits of Mail Manager, being able to take the hassle out of 'where do I file this?'. Mail Manager does it for you and I know exactly where everything is."
When asked about how 5plus architects get employees accustomed to filing their emails correctly, Adam shared: "We have an induction process where we run through how you file emails in exactly the same way as 'this is how you draw' or 'this is how you unlock the building'. Mail Manager is just part of the DNA at 5plus." Their use of Mail Manager has also meant that 5plus architects has been able to maintain their Quality Assurance ISO9001 compliance.
Remote work made easy with powerful search function
Hassle-free filing is just one aspect of Mail Manager's solution. Adam commented: "One of the main reasons Mail Manager works so well for us is the search function. I don't know quite how you do it but it's super-fast, super-smart and makes it incredibly easy to find any emails I need."
With the ability to search through two million indexed emails in seconds, Mail Manager's search features has made 5plus architects' transition to remote work in the pandemic seamless, with the added benefit of reducing the size of any individual's mailbox and the company's server size. Adam mentions that while there is still a place for CC'ing colleagues onto emails, "Being copied in just to know something has been actioned doesn't need to be a reason anymore. Our project teams using Mail Manager means that I can open any project folder at any time and see what emails have been sent, and when."
When discussing remote work and collaborating between the two offices, Adam commented: "We're actually working more culturally across studios than we ever have before, so we're about to reunite our two servers for the first time in years."
Other implementation benefits
When they started the business, 5plus architects purchased perpetual Outlook2010 licenses, but recently made the move to Office 365. When talking about the move, Adam mentioned: "We were a bit nervous about this, but it was fine. We migrated, turned off the old system, installed the Mail Manager plug-ins and there were no issues whatsoever. It worked exactly the same."
Mail Manager's social mapping feature also plays a pivotal role in 5plus architects' QA strategy and compliance. Adam explained: "We use this a lot on the positive side, and now and again if you do ever end up in a legal situation where someone says 'I was never sent this'. Even if the email you're looking for is six email inboxes away from you or you've never directly had contact with the person you need to find an email for, you'll be able to find it in seconds."
Watch the 5plus architects webinar in full to find out more. And sign up for a free trial of Mail Manager below to discover the immediate impact it can have on your email management processes.
