Inbox Solutions: 5 Problems That Exist with Individual Emails

Did you know that as of 2019 Over half of the world’s population uses email? This number is expected to rise to 4.3 billion by the end of 2023.

Since you are likely a regular email user you may be wondering how to get the best out of email. After all, a clogged inbox is not an efficient inbox. 

Have you ever tried alternate inbox solutions, such as a shared inbox?

Check out five problems that occur regularly with individual accounts that may make you rethink the value of a shared email inbox. 

1. The Line Between Privacy and Secrecy

Trust is highly underrated in the office environment. It can take years to build up a solid atmosphere of trust in an office environment.

To help people work together, however, it can take just one toxic element, often spreading their poison by email, to severely damage all this good work. Office place gossip that goes beyond simple information sharing and borders slander is one example. 

This is particularly important as companies scale up their operations and the company comes to rest upon the small teams that specialize in key areas. 

Personal email can be the conduit that allows this to take place. A shared inbox solution, however, makes this almost impossible. After all, there can be no secret sharing of information if there are no places to hide it. 

Imagine an office workplace where there are trust and security. Where people cannot speak behind each other’s backs.

This would surely bring everyone on to the same page and encourage open and productive communication. Creative ideas would be openly shared rather than hidden. A shared inbox can make this possible. 

2. Single Worker Problem-Solving

A team member receives an email to an individual inbox. He then has to decide whether to share this information with others. He may feel that he can handle it on his own and provide the solution himself. He may be correct. However, this may take a longer time than necessary. 

individual inboxes encourage individual thinking. It almost goes as far as discouraging collaboration. in 2019, many issues are complex and require collaboration to solve them. Sharing email is the first step in accomplishing this. 

Rather than creating strict rules about copying individuals in, using shared inbox is the first step to involving teams and their varied experiences to a problem. Do this and watch as problems are solved in creative and innovative ways thanks to team involvement. 

3. How to Follow-Up?

Individual inboxes become gold mines of information. The starting point of a project or issue. The process involved. The location of vital information in a storage location. All of this may be documented in emails in an individual’s inbox. 

Now imagine that this person goes on unexpected leave for a month or leaves the organization.

That information may be stored in the sent items of multiple other users. However, retrieving it is an impossibly inefficient process. This crucial information and possibly its related project become frozen until the person comes back or a lengthy process allows access. 

Shared inboxes prevent this scenario from taking place. Emails are accessible to all in the team. If a member unexpectedly departs, temporarily or permanently, the rest of the team can still see the history of their work. 

The client may never realize that a key member of staff became suddenly unavailable. The organization can retain its good reputation for customer service because another member of staff was able to take up where the absentee left off. 

4. Wasted Time

Even if there is a culture of sharing information in a workplace, individual inboxes make this difficult. They also require manual steps to be constantly taken. This could include email forwarding, CC, BCC, and similar steps. Email management becomes a constant feature of the working week and can actually take more time than it gives. 

In addition to this, experts tell us that workers spend up to six hours per week on work duplication. More than one worker is working on the same task, yet they do not know since they have not communicated.

A shared inbox provides a natural environment where workers can learn through interaction who is caring for each task. This means that work is complementary and not a duplication.

5. Emails Lost Forever

Projects can take months or even years to complete. Often in the initial stages, communications are shared between committees and management groups. Later this is expanded to larger workgroups. However, the initial decisions that were made are valid and in many cases crucial. 

Sadly, these initial decisions or the communication involved in making them can be lost. Individuals leaving or tight company email retention policies mean that they were deleted before they could be sent to relevant parties. Avoid this with shared inboxes that give everyone access to vital information.

Inbox Solutions to Save Valuable Time

Communication is the lifeblood of an organization. The faster that this communication can be received, delegated and actioned, the greater the efficiency of the overall organization.

Think too of the impression that this will give to your customer base as queries and suggestions are processed and implemented with lightning speed. 

Inbox solutions that increase productivity can help you to do this. We leverage our years of experience in the IT and administration world to help organizations overcome traditional challenges to productivity.

If you would like to see how we can help you, why not follow our blog or contact us today.