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Optimizing Office Email Productivity

Utilizing the crowd and other smart strategies for optimizing your email productivity

Email productivity — or lack of it — is an essential component of keeping your business running smoothly. Many obstacles to cultivating optimal email productivity exist. Fortunately, there are ways to circumvent this. Following are five strategies designed to keep productivity flowing.

Businessman working with phone and computer

Move to the Cloud

Stop wasting time, effort, and energy on maintaining onsite servers and move your email to the cloud. Cloud-based services don’t leave you vulnerable to decreased productivity due to unscheduled downtime and leaves your in-house IT team with more time for other projects. Your company will also enjoy increased security and compliance necessary to adhere to government and industry regulations as well as cultivate trust among those with whom you do business. You’ll never to have to worry about installing updates at your end, either — that’s all taken care of on the other side.

Turn off Notifications

Instead of checking emails each time you receive a notification, schedule regular times throughout your business day to check emails unless responding to emails as quickly as possible is essential to your business. Checking emails at the beginning of the day is recommended because it helps create a list of tasks to work on during the day. You should also check your email again before going home for the day for a head start on the next day’s agenda. You may also decide to schedule email checks during other times of the day depending on how essential email correspondence is in the day-to-day functionality of your business. Having a set schedule for checking emails prevents the distraction caused by notifications.

Unsubscribe to Unread Newsletters

Ruthlessly unsubscribing to newsletters and other email campaigns that you don’t read helps keep your inbox free of the type of unnecessary clutter that makes relevant correspondence easy to miss. Set aside five minutes or so on a monthly basis to go through your emails and decide which ones to cull — you may be surprised at the difference this makes when done on a regular basis.

Use Your Filtering System for Optimal Organization

Using your email settings to customize your inbox results in a more organized, streamlined experience that saves significant time and energy. For instance, you can create separate folders for individual clients or other business contacts. You can also use your settings to ensure that only high-priority emails reach your inbox rather than a designated folder. Always be vigilant concerning unnecessary emails and spam — clean them out and mark them as ‘spam,’ so future correspondence bypasses your inbox.

Access Emails With a Smartphone App

Having an email app installed on your smartphone allows you to access office emails from any location. For instance, you can maximize your morning commute by using your smartphone to organize your inbox before you arrive at your desk. You can use the same strategy on your homeward commute at the end of the day. You’ll also be able to keep up with your emails on days that you can’t make it into the office, eliminating the hassle of trying to navigate an overflowing inbox upon your return.

Please feel free to contact McLane Intelligent Solutions in Texas at your earliest convenience (866) 551-4628 or info@mclaneintel.com for more information on cultivating optimal email productivity.