The Challenge: Outdated Email Management Practices
In the world of information management, we're seeing some wild transformations, especially when it comes to email management. I want to share a recent experience that really highlights how automation and AI are changing the game.
We were working with an organization in an industry that's typically slower to move to the cloud and adopt full digitalization processes. Their email management system? Let's just say it was stuck in the past. They were printing off emails, tagging them, putting them in filing cabinets, or uploading them and scanning them back into Microsoft and then storing them somewhere. It was a time-consuming process that took them about 12 minutes per email. Yeah, you heard that right - 12 minutes!
The Solution: Modern Email Management with Automation
Now, compare that to what we can do with modern email management programs. We often like to say we save people a minute or two on every email filed versus a more manual way of downloading a file, uploading it to SharePoint, and tagging it with all the proper metadata and applying a retention label. But with this organization, the time savings were massive.
With our solution, we cut their time down from 12 minutes to just one click. And if you're using our auto-file or bulk-file capability, you can even get that down to zero.
The Results: Massive Time Savings and Increased Productivity
The admin time we were able to unlock for that team was just incredible. They're very excited about it, and for good reason. This was a government-related or government-sponsored entity, so they have the requirement to file a ton of emails and records. They can't miss any. But now, instead of spending hours on email management, these people are repurposing their time to other jobs and things that add value to the organization.
The Journey: From Legacy Systems to Cloud-Based Solutions
It's important to note that this is still a journey for them. They moved from a legacy enterprise content management system to SharePoint Online, so they're newer to the M365 stack. They're still growing on the maturity curve, layering in things like Microsoft Purview. It's going to be a full end-to-end transformation, but even the early results have been amazing.
The Impact: Transforming Email Management Across Industries
Now, I'll admit, this case is a bit of an outlier. Not every organization is going to see such drastic savings - we need to get them into a case study! But it just goes to show the potential of modern email management solutions. I almost fell off my chair the first time I heard how much time we were saving them.
The Future: AI and Automation in Email Management
What's exciting is that this is just the beginning. As we continue to integrate more AI and automation into these processes, we're going to see even more efficiency gains. It's not about replacing people - it's about freeing them up to focus on higher-value tasks.
Conclusion: Embracing Modern Email Management Solutions
So, if you're still managing emails the old-fashioned way, it might be time to look at what automation and AI can do for you. Trust me, your team will thank you for those extra hours in their day!
Find your next information management solution in AIIM's Buyer's Guide.
This blog post is based on an original AIIM OnAir podcast. When recording podcasts, AIIM uses AI-enabled transcription in Zoom. We then use that transcription as part of a prompt with Claude Pro, Anthropic’s AI assistant. AIIM staff (aka humans) then edit the output from Claude for accuracy, completeness, and tone. In this way, we use AI to increase the accessibility of our podcast and extend the value of great content.
