By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data-driven white label SEO
    Does Data Mining Really Help with White Label SEO?
    7 Min Read
    marketing analytics for hardware vendors
    IT Hardware Startups Turn to Data Analytics for Market Research
    9 Min Read
    big data and digital signage
    The Power of Big Data and Analytics in Digital Signage
    5 Min Read
    data analytics investing
    Data Analytics Boosts ROI of Investment Trusts
    9 Min Read
    football data collection and analytics
    Unleashing Victory: How Data Collection Is Revolutionizing Football Performance Analysis!
    4 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Email is Not Collaboration
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Inside Companies > Email is Not Collaboration
Inside Companies

Email is Not Collaboration

MIKE20
Last updated: 2010/12/06 at 12:30 PM
MIKE20
4 Min Read
SHARE

Contents
Email and CollaborationProblems with Relying Exclusively on EmailFeedback

A few months ago, I wrote a three part series on the case against collaboration. In it, I detailed times in which working with others was ill-advised. Of course, I’m a happy collaborator when it makes sense. This is an important distinction. From my perspective, many organizations lack an effective tool to encourage effective collaboration. As a result, the old standby (email) becomes the sole and de facto collaboration tool.

More Read

gmail security tools to use

4 Brilliant Ways To Use Big Data To Boost Gmail Security

How Big Data Improves Customer Segmentation Analysis For Email Marketers
How to Protect Your Organization’s Sensitive Email Data
Microsoft’s New Outlook App Might Have You Rethinking iOS Mail App
Salesforce Fills Out the “Marketing Cloud”

And this is a big mistake. In this post, I am going to explain why.

Email and Collaboration

Email may in fact be the killer app from Enterprise 1.0. Think about how we used to communicate in professional settings. Intraoffice memos, posts on community bulletin boards, and letters represented the primary written means by which most people exchanged information. This wasn’t exactly ideal, but we really had no alternative at the time.

And then came email. It was

…was widely accepted by the business community as the first broad electronic communication medium and was the first ‘e-revolution’ in business communication. Email is very simple to understand and like postal mail, email solves two basic problems of communication: logistics and synchronization (see below).

In other words, email allowed us to take a giant leap forward, enabling near real-time communication. The speed and efficiency of the medium was unparalleled. Many people (myself included) probably relied upon emails too much.

Well, no longer is email the sole means to communicate. And it’s about time that many people and organizations came around to this fact.

Problems with Relying Exclusively on Email

There are obvious issues with email not capturing the tone of the sender. How many times has a message been misinterpreted over email? There also are more technical issues with servers occasionally taking awhile to process individual messages, leading to the often-asked question, “Didn’t you get my email?”

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve: email just is not efficient.

On a recent client engagement, the organization had no collaborative tool. I would routinely receive files as attachments, often with vague instructions about what I need to do with them. Of course, on data management and application development projects, vagueness is just plain evil. On occasion, I would misinterpret instructions based on inaccurate assumptions. Or perhaps I would receive the message correctly and begin a major change. Half an hour later, I would receive an email with a new file, formatted in a slightly different way. In a few cases, I had to junk my previous modifications.

Contrast that with what I–and many others–have: a basic screen-sharing app. There are many, but I use GoToMyPC. I can show my client in real-time how I am doing something. I can ask questions and receive immediate feedback, minimizing cost and development time. My client can ask questions and answer in turn. What’s more, I can expedite knowledge transfer and root out issues quicker than by going back-and-forth via e-mail.

Will e-mail ever die? I don’t see it happening, at least anytime soon. However, I can certainly see it being used less as different communication methods mature, evolve, and are introduced. Rather than rely exclusively on what we know best, intelligent folks and organizations will continue to push the envelope–improving collaboration in the process.

Feedback

What say you?

TAGGED: email
MIKE20 December 6, 2010
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

IoT Cybersecurity
4 Common Misconceptions Surrounding IoT Cybersecurity Compliance
Internet of Things
iot and cloud technology
IoT And Cloud Integration is the Future!
Internet of Things
ai in marketing
4 Ways AI Can Improve Your Marketing Strategy
Artificial Intelligence
data security unveiled
Data Security Unveiled: Protecting Your Information in a Connected World
Security

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

gmail security tools to use
Big DataSecuritySoftware

4 Brilliant Ways To Use Big Data To Boost Gmail Security

6 Min Read
customer segmentation analysis for email
AnalyticsBig DataExclusiveMarketing

How Big Data Improves Customer Segmentation Analysis For Email Marketers

16 Min Read
Email Data
Data ManagementPrivacySecurity

How to Protect Your Organization’s Sensitive Email Data

7 Min Read

Microsoft’s New Outlook App Might Have You Rethinking iOS Mail App

3 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data
ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?