Email Accounts Online

Many organizations set up office email systems, for use by their staff members. The office email system is meant to facilitate communication within the organization — like, say, between staff members in different departments. The office email system can also be used to communicate with people who are outside the organization: like, say, suppliers, clients, job applicants… and so on.

Some of the office email systems are operated through desktop email applications, such as Microsoft Outlook. Others are operated through web-based email applications, such as Zimbra.

Unfortunately, some workers have been known to misuse the office email systems. Sometimes, this leads to reprimands, with some people even ending up losing their jobs because of improper usage of office email systems. It is against this background, then, that we will be looking at some of the mistakes that one ought to avoid while using the office email system. The said mistakes include:

Using the office email system for personal communications

This is arguably the most frequently made mistake, when it comes to the usage of office email systems. You often encounter scenarios where staff members start exchanging (and forwarding to each other) funny email attachments using the office email system. Unknown to them is the fact that the communications that run through these office email systems are often monitored closely. And really, it is the height of laziness to use the office email system for personal communications: yet, in less than five minutes, one can easily set up a free Gmail or Yahoo Mail account for use in personal communications.

Sending offensive messages using the office email system

It is bad enough to use offensive language against a fellow worker (or anyone else in a workplace setting) in verbal communication. It is worse when you do it on the office email system, because a copy of the offensive email will be left on the system — and it can be used as evidence against you when matters come to a head.

Failing to respond promptly to messages received through the office email system

This is another frequently made mistake, when it comes to the usage of office email systems. Many of us often fail to appreciate that there is really one main reason as to why organizations invest in these office email systems: to ensure prompt and efficient communications. If you fail to respond promptly to messages received through the office email system, you slow things down in the organization — and this is bound to reflect badly on your employment records.

Failing to proofread messages before dispatching them through the office email system

This often leads to scenarios where messages with major errors are dispatched through the office email systems, occasionally with catastrophic consequences. There also are scenarios where a person proofreads the email message body, but then fails to cross-check the people to whom the message is to be dispatched, and the people to whom the message is to be copied. It is also in this category that we encounter the scenario where rather than clicking on the ‘reply’ button, one clicks on the ‘reply all’ button – and ends up sending an email reply to unintended recipients, sometimes with dire consequences.

Opening unsafe attachments on emails received through the office email system

This often lead to the introduction of viruses and other types of computer malware (including spyware) into organization’s computer systems. This is indeed how some respectable organizations have ended up having their systems hacked or otherwise infiltrated. It is definitely a mistake worth avoiding at all costs.

One of the straightforward ways in which a business can enhance communication efficiency, while at the same time reducing communication costs, is by ensuring that most of the communication is carried out via email. In this article, we will be looking at some of the steps that need to be taken/some of the measures that need to be put in place, in order to leverage on the power of email for business communications. Those include:

Setting up a reliable business email system

This is the first and most obvious step that you need to take, if you are keen on using email for business communications. Many considerations have to be made here. These include considerations like the one on whether you will be using a subscription fee-based email system, or a free webmail system. There is also the question as to whether you would be hosting your email server in-house or whether you would be using a web-based/cloud-based email server. Then there is the question as to whether you are to have a single email address for the entire business, or if you are to have the different staff members in the business having their individual email addresses.

Setting up a reliable business email system is not just a question of investing in reliable email communications infrastructure. It is also a question of coming up with business systems (procedures and routines) that will ensure that the system is used effectively and efficiently.

Sharing the business email address widely (with the business contacts)

Here, we are looking at the whole range of business contacts: from suppliers to clients and on to employees, shareholders, contacts in government offices… and so on. By sharing the business email address widely with these business contacts, you are sending them the message that the business can be reached through email. They are subsequently likely to consider using email (rather than, say, the phone), whenever they wish to communicate with the business.

Encouraging the business contacts to carry out the bulk of their communications via email

This is a question of sending the message, directly or indirectly (to the business contacts) that your business prefers to communicate via email. If you make this preference clear to the business contacts, they are likely to be (subsequently) inclined to communicate with the business via email. This is especially the case for contacts who wish to curry favor with the business: like, for instance, the suppliers, job applicants and so on.

Encouraging staff to carry out the bulk of their communications through email

Understandably, some staff members may prefer to carry out the bulk of their communications through the phone – because dialing numbers and speaking into a phone is easier than typing out an email. You therefore have to take some time to sensitize the staff members on the advantages of email communication, and why it would be a good idea for them to carry out the bulk of their communications via email.

Training staff on the proper use of email for business

Beyond encouraging staff members to carry out the bulk of their communications through email, you also need to go a step further and actually train them on the proper usage of email in business communications. This is a question of training them on things like how to compose proper business email messages, how to reply to business emails promptly and how to proofread emails before sending them. It may also be necessary to train them on how to differentiate between important emails and urgent emails as well as on the rules governing the copying, carbon-copying and blind carbon copying of business emails. Further areas for training include those of privacy and the legal aspects of email communications. Without this sort of training, the employees may not be able to use email effectively for business communications.

There are several major benefits associated with free web-based email services. It is on account of these benefits, or rather in pursuit of these benefits, that we see hundreds of millions of people (globally) signing up for the free web-based email services. It is in pursuit of these benefits that we see even folks who hold senior positions in the society, folks who can afford to pay for subscription fee-based email services nonetheless opting to use the free web-based email services. It is also in pursuit of the benefits we are just about to look at that we often seen businesses that are capable of paying for the subscription fee-based email services nonetheless opting to use the free web-based email services. The benefits we are talking about include:

Reliability

The free web-based email services tend to be extremely reliable. The companies that offer these services (the likes Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft) invest massively in email service provision infrastructure. The investment translates into enhanced reliability: and you are therefore very unlikely to ever find Gmail or Yahoo Mail or Hotmail email service ‘down’. On the other hand, the smaller subscription fee-based email services are often associated with frequent down-times, which translates into unreliability.

Accessibility

The free web-based email services are accessible from any part of the world, at any time of the day or night. This makes them advantageous, especially when you compare them with the desktop-based email systems, that can only be accessed if one is behind the desktop hosting the email client. Lately, the providers of the free web-based email services have gone a notch higher, and created special apps through which the email services can be accessed on mobile devices. This translates into even better accessibility.

Security

The providers of the free web-based email services tend to go to great lengths, to ensure that their servers are well secured. The services are often perceived as being ‘too big to fail’. On the other hand, the smaller subscription fee-based email service providers often struggle with the aspect of security. In any event, security is all about perception. Subsequently, if many people perceive the bigger, free web-based email services as being securer, then they are likely to be inclined to sign up for such services.

Zero cost

The free web-based email services have over the years evolved to a level where they are (genuinely) offered free of charge, with no strings attached. The only catch is that the users of the free web-based email services have to put up with ads – which many people consider to be a small price to pay for the superb email communications. We therefore end up with a somewhat weird situation: where we have free services that are, in many ways, actually better than the subscription fee-based services.