Finding information instantly, when you need it, can be a challenge, especially when it’s buried in email correspondence or attachments. Critical email communications can get lost in the shuffle when the recipient is on vacation, leaves a position, can’t keep up with incoming email, or messages are inappropriately deleted. In the event of an audit or litigation, vital data can get stuck in someone’s inbox and be difficult or even impossible to access.
Time spent searching can slow down your ability to make sound decisions. If the information you need is trapped in someone else’s email, you may not be able to find the answers you need. However, with a solid email management application that is linked to a document management system, you can streamline, organize, archive, and retrieve critical information stored in your emails and email attachments as soon as they are received.
An email management system that is part of your document management strategy gives pre-authorized people the ability to search through your company’s mission-critical transactional data so you can make informed decisions. When email management is integrated with business processing software, such as workflow, the arrival of emails can trigger specific tasks that are part of your business routine, speeding up processing. In the event of audits or litigation, the ability to search relevant emails saves considerable time and money. Plus, it removes the temptation to print and file important email communications and attachments, saving paper and eliminating waste.
This article explains the four basic parts of email management and describes how they work together to ensure that data stored in emails can be easily found. It illustrates how proper email management can keep projects that are linked to email correspondence and files moving. Finally, it also explains how email can be integrated with your digital workflow, allowing you to maximize the occurrence of specific events that are communicated via email.
Optimizing email messages and attachments
One of the biggest timesavers of email management applications is the ability to optimize emails as they come into the system. Although companies that are bound by the strict Sarbanes-Oxley rules may need an additional email archiving appliance to ensure that all email data (including spam and personal emails) is saved, most of businesses don’t want to be hampered by storing irrelevant messages on a daily basis. Software that contains blacklisting and whitelisting capabilities helps ensure you receive all messages from approved senders and are no longer bothered by communications that are not critical to your business. You can reject all emails from a particular sender, emails that end with questionable suffixes, or other predefined criteria. This helps ensure that the messages that make it to the next step (organizing) are messages of value.
Organization of emails for processing and storage
Automatic email indexing can be tremendously helpful in cataloging and organizing messages coming in and out of your business. Rules can be set to index messages and attachments by a variety of standard and custom fields, including the subject line, “to” and “from” fields, the date, which people copied the email, or another category of choice. Emails can be routed to specific inboxes as they arrive, or held in designated batches to be routed at a specific time period (such as during the night shift or every four hours). As a result, they are ready to process when staff arrive at work or when you decide they should be processed.
These same criteria can be used to associate designated emails or email types with specific documents or document types. Receipt of these messages or types of messages can be used to alert staff, or simply send the messages to the correct location in a document management system for future access. This is particularly valuable if the emails and attachments are relevant to a specific business process that requires timely action. For example, let’s say you represent a college admissions office and need final documentation before you can send a decision letter to a student. When the email arrives with the requested item as an attachment, an alert can be automatically sent to the right person that your email needs immediate attention. Faster action means quicker decisions and a better chance of the student enrolling at your institution before being accepted elsewhere.
Archive emails for future retrieval
Three vital elements to consider when setting up an email archiving methodology are:
how various groups of people will ultimately seek the information;
what information each individual or group of people is allowed to see; Y
how long emails should be kept.
An email management system functions as a records manager and is part of a document management strategy and system. It’s helpful to think like a records manager when deciding how to archive information. Security is of paramount importance, especially in the area of compliance. Your application must be able to guarantee the privacy and confidentiality of the information. It must also be able to make information automatically available to the right people or departments to make business decisions. You’ll also want to eliminate storage of useless emails and messages related to inactive files that have exceeded their required retention periods. In the case of e-discovery, searching through hordes of irrelevant information can be costly. Emails must be scheduled to be removed from the system in accordance with policies and regulations. A good document management solution should be able to schedule and manage email retention.
Archiving emails by subject may be sufficient for most of your business activities. However, some people may need to search for messages or attachments by sender name, a specific time period, or may need to use multiple criteria, such as a specific topic from a given sender within an explicit time period. Diverting spam to a hardware storage device may be the best way to archive seemingly unimportant data. This method would keep you out of your trading systems; at the same time, it would maintain data availability in the event of a dispute. Be sure to consider potential internal and external needs when determining the criteria for the archive, so that everyone can find what they need in the future.
Recover data when you need it
There are two basic reasons why a business is likely to need your email correspondence and attachments: in response to a question (which could be from staff, a customer, or could include an audit or brief subpoena) or to support an active business process. Email management software that is part of a document management system ensures that only authorized people can view, add, or act on email correspondence and attachments in your electronic storage repository.
If you have remote workers, web-based access harnesses the value of stored emails. It allows pre-authorized people to access information from any location in the same way that they would access any other data they are allowed to see. When indexed emails or attachments are relevant to a routine business process, such as supporting documentation for an insurance claim or a college application, they can be automatically sent to the work queue through the workflow. digital to further speed up processing.
Adding digital workflow to an email management and document management system dramatically improves productivity and efficiency. Take, for example, a mortgage application. Let’s say your workflow system has been instructed to collect a standard list of specific documents from all potential customers before loans can be reviewed. All documentation was received from a particular applicant except for a final piece of supporting documentation such as an insurance statement or pay stub or 1099 as proof of income to support the loan.
The system was pre-instructed to send you alerts as emails are received from your prospects, and to place them at the top of your work queue for quick review and processing. Instead of digging through your emails to make sure you haven’t missed any relevant information, messages are automatically sent to your work queue and associated with all related documentation, keeping your process moving. Plus, with web-based access, you’re not forced to finish your work at your desk. A few minutes of free time, whether in a waiting room, between meetings, or at home, can become productive.
Summary
If you want to gain a solid understanding of all of your company’s critical communications, it’s important to have an information management policy, an email management strategy, and a good software solution. Make sure your chosen product ensures data security, smart indexing, advanced search capabilities, and the ability to integrate with digital workflow and your other business applications as you grow and your needs change. By streamlining your communications, organizing your information and filing it sensibly, you’ll have what you need exactly when you need it. Your efficiency, productivity and reputation will skyrocket.
