You’ve recognised your email data needs greater controls to improve operational efficiency, reduce risk and improve your client’s experience and maybe up to 70% of critical business data is stored in emails. One of the first questions is, which email management solution should I choose? The answer to this question will depend on your own your business requirements and current IT systems. Here are some of the key considerations and questions you should ask of any potential email management supplier when selecting the email management solution that is right for you and your business.

How much intelligent automation will I get? – Without intelligent automation there will be a dependence on the filing discipline of the users using the system, which significantly increases the risk that not all business emails will be captured. The greater the level of automation the greater confidence a business can have that all business emails will be captured, up to 80% automation is a reasonable level of automation.

What happens to the other 20% that are not automatically filed? The users will be prompted with suggestions where to file. This will make it easier for the user and increase business confidence that all emails are being captured.

How easy is it to integrate with other systems? – Integration should be easy with your main business line systems, reducing the upheaval (and therefore reducing the risk) in switching/adding a new IT system.  As a minimum, integration will be required between your document store and your email management system.

Is mandatory filing available? – Mandatory filing is a way to guarantee all business emails will be captured. Mandatory can come in the form of soft or hard mandatory filing. Soft mandatory filing is where the user can still delete non-business emails without filing, whereas hard mandatory filing will ensure all emails are captured, although non-business emails could be captured in a private, or garbage area. Mandatory filing allows the business to balance the required controls with the needs of the user to remove the burden of email filing.

How intuitive / easy to use is it for the user? – This includes how the system can be accessed from their current email window, browser, mobile, etc. Ideally access is from any location the user works from at any time. Does the system extend the current user capability or does it disrupt it? How quick and easy is it to learn the new system?

Does it support your existing operational processes – Ideally the new system will automate existing operational processes and not change them. As an example, can the new system recognise adding new clients, projects, suppliers etc automatically or does it increase the administration burden on the organisation?

How good is the filtering and search capability? – It should be quick and easy to find the information the user is looking for.

Can it be used on mobile? – Does the system provide the same capability on iOS or Android mobiles?

Can it be used with a 365 browser?

Auto-deletion? – Is there a way of keeping user inboxes tidy automatically?

Migration tools? – This is important for ‘day one’ usage of the system. Can historic emails be migrated from all sources (Email, Document Management systems, File Servers, etc.) quickly and easily while removing any duplicate copies of emails.

I hope the questions above will give you a good start although there will be many other questions you will want to ask, both about the functionality, integration with your specific business line systems and your non-functional requirements which will be specific to your organisation. 

There are many challenges in providing a full email management solution to a company or business. There are the competing needs of the different stakeholders from Legal, IT and the business; It is generally critical to any business to maintain a complete record of email communications while balancing the increased costs and risks associated with keeping all information and then there is the challenge of making it as easy as possible for business users to file, search and find information. As part of an organisations information governance and content management efforts, accounting for email is key. Selecting the right email management system, automation and exit strategy can achieve this.

Here at Knowledgemill, we have the expertise, experience and software capability to answer your queries and give you the confidence to take the next step. For an informal chat and see how we can help with email management for your organisation. Visit www.knowledgemill.com or contact us at info@knowledgemill.com

We would be happy to demonstrate our system Knowledgemill Mail Manager  which automates the complex process of filing and simplifies searching for emails, attachments and documents across your entire organisation by securely storing all data into one central database. Relax in the knowledge that you will never lose an email or document again, saving valuable time with instant access to all important and relevant data at the click of a button anywhere and at any time.

I have previously touched on how poor email filing discipline ie filing or storing emails, can cost an organisation money, increase the company’s risk or increase customers frustration because their information cannot be found quickly. It can also make a colleagues job a lot harder and more frustrating, wasting time trying to find information that has not been stored in a specific customer, project or supplier file.

Whilst having experienced these problems ‘first hand’ in several of my CIO roles, it’s something which can be difficult to solve because it involves changing staff/peoples working behaviour. Change can be complex and difficult and I have to admit I didn’t always get it right!

When I think about my past experience of colleagues email filing discipline, some of my business colleagues were diligent in filing their business related emails but many were not. This is perhaps not wholly surprising, after all, there is always more interesting work to be getting on with.

One way I found to help solve this difficult problem is through the use of automation. This could be either through the use of automatic filing or by presenting a small number of filing options to users at the point they read their emails. I have now had extensive experience of working with professional services organisations and addressed the objections raised to such an approach. There is initially either a fear they will lose control or non-business related emails will be stored with the business related emails.

Getting the balance right between supporting the organisation and supporting the staff needs is important which is something we at Knowledgemill take extremely seriously. Our intelligent machine learning email filing system can be set-up to support different business departments or even individual members of staff in different ways while still meeting the business objective of creating a central store of email correspondence that can be used to support customers, suppliers and projects.

Knowledgemill works seamlessly as part of Microsoft Outlook (Office 365 or Exchange) and integrates with the document management system of your choice or the native Knowledgemill DMS.  It also provides a full filing capability for iPhones, iPads and Android phones.

At Knowledgemill we have been working with many organisations to solve their operational email management problems, Legal firms, construction firms, accounting firms or professional services organisations. Click on the link www.knowledgemill.com to find out more.  We would be pleased to demonstrate/discuss how Knowledgemill works with your existing systems and how it could help your organisation.

I have in the past, as many businesses, employed expensive consultants to perform an assessment of the Company’s ‘day to day’ operational processes, The consultants brief is to document the existing processes and look for areas that can be automated or improved. They generally produce very comprehensive documentation with detailed cost benefit for each improvement, business KPIs and role definitions. However, the one area that appears neglected is email management which could provide huge improvements to the business. 

Email is a critical business communication tool. It is imperative for customer service, supplier management and may become a business risk/cost if not managed effectively. Each member of staff will spend a lot of their working day managing emails, sending emails, replying to emails and referring to historic emails as a core part of their job. If the email management burden on staff can be reduced it can improve productivity significantly.

The majority of business emails contain vital information for the organisation and requires handling with speed and precision to deliver a timely and coherent customer-centric experience. This can be achieved using an intelligent email filing capability which can automatically file the majority of all business emails in the right place without user intervention, providing suggestions for the remainder with the additional capability to find historic emails quickly and easily, irrespective of age and who received the email initially. 

There can be resistance when implementing an email automation. One of the major concerns I encounter when talking to organisations is the fear that Zero click filing results in emails being filed in the wrong place or that staff fear loss of control. The opposite is of course true, by combining automation with machine learning, staff remain in control. Automation removes most of the burden of email administration for the user, saving considerable in filing and searching for business critical emails. Combined with a data retention policy, it reduces compliance, audit and data regulation risk for the organisation and promotes a consistent customer-centric model. 

Read the feedback below from one of our many satisfied clients (in their own words) after they implemented Knowledgemill Mail Manager in their business:

Working more effectively as a team – “the whole team use the same work folders (Client, supplier or project), so everyone is completely up-to-date at all times, without ever having to copy or forward to colleagues. ‘Very simply, we send and receive at least 30% less mail’.”

Impressing clients by always being well informed – whether it’s taking a query for a colleague or providing relationship continuity over holidays or staff changes, every member of the team can see the latest communication thread.

Saving time and effort – Automated filing has cut down the need for people to spend time filing emails. Better still, it dramatically reduces the time spent looking for emails or asking colleagues for information or forwarding and cc’ing – every email from every one and every attachment to a particular case is gathered together in a folder in Outlook, which is easy to scan by eye or search and filter.

Maintaining complete records – There is now a comprehensive record of all electronic communication, classified and stored by client and project. This is great for regulatory compliance, internal process compliance, management overview and client confidence. 

Simplicity of adoption – introducing 100% compulsory filing and a management information system would normally be pretty traumatic. But because Knowledgemill works intuitively just like a part of Outlook, and because filing is mostly automatic, users have no problem learning to use it and there is little cultural change.

Knowledgemill Mail Manager automates the complex process of filing and simplifies searching for emails, attachments and documents across your entire organisation by securely storing all data into one central database. Relax in the knowledge that you will never lose an email or document again, saving valuable time with instant access to all important and relevant data at the click of a button anywhere and at any time.

Here at Knowledgemill, we have the know how and experience to help with email management for your organisation. Visit www.knowledgemill.com or contact us at info@knowledgemill.com for an informal chat and see how Knowledgemill can help your business get your email management under control.