Email management
Mail arrives already sorted.
You confirm.
The shared inbox doesn't manage itself.
Example · in progress
This is one of the processes we're starting from. Here you can see how we're developing it.
Orders, requests, invoices, complaints: everything arrives with no logical order. Every morning someone reads, understands, forwards. We're building an agent that does the first read and suggests who each email should go to, with a two-line summary at the top. Who to answer and how stays your choice.
Rather talk it through now? Let's talk about your process
01 · How it works today
Monday's emails.
How many emails on a Monday? Lots, and all to be read and sorted. Someone opens them one by one, works out whether it's an order or a complaint, looks up the sender in the systems and forwards it. Whoever receives it reads it again from the start. The one nobody knows or understands sits there until Friday.
02 · What the agent would do
Organised sorting, the check is always yours.
Example · in progress
- 01 · MailReads emails and attachmentsOrder, quote, reminder received, complaint, invoice or other.
- 02 · SystemsRecognises the senderIf they're in the customer records. Read only.
- 03 · DraftWrites the summaryTwo lines, plus the data missing to answer.
- 04 · ManagementSuggests the recipientThe order to whoever enters it, the quote to sales, the invoice to accounts.
- 05 · A manager decidesWhoever watches the inbox confirmsSees the suggestion, corrects it if needed, confirms.
- 06 · MailReaches the right personWith the summary at the top. Nothing goes out to the customer.
Example · in progress
What starts it
An email arrives
In the shared inbox, for example info or accounts.
01 · Mail
Reads emails and attachments
Order, quote, reminder received, complaint, invoice or other.
02 · Systems
Recognises the sender
If they're in the customer records. Read only.
03 · Draft
Writes the summary
Two lines, plus the data missing to answer.
04 · Management
Suggests the recipient
The order to whoever enters it, the quote to sales, the invoice to accounts.
05 · A manager decides
Whoever watches the inbox confirms
Sees the suggestion, corrects it if needed, confirms.
06 · Mail
Reaches the right person
With the summary at the top. Nothing goes out to the customer.
What remains
Confirming each distribution and the reply to the customer. Emails the agent can't classify stay with whoever manages the inbox, as today.
The method
Criteria we agree on together before we start.
- Emails routed straight away
- Time from arrival to pick-up
- Emails still unanswered at the end of the week
What we need
Access to the shared inbox. With Microsoft 365 we work on mail and calendar; for other mailboxes we talk it through.
Access to the customer records, to recognise who's writing.
Who gets what. The list of who handles orders, quotes, invoices and complaints.
A few weeks of real emails for the test, within the limits you set.
Whoever watches the inbox today, the person who confirms the suggestions.
Questions for this process
Does the agent reply to customers?
No. It reads, summarises and suggests who to forward to. Replies are written by the people in your office, as today. The difference is the summary already prepared.
What about emails the agent can't classify?
They stay with whoever manages the inbox, flagged as such. No email is forwarded without a person's confirmation.
Who sees our emails?
Whoever you name. Before we start we write down which data the agent reads, which goes to the language models and which stays put.
Does it also record orders in the systems?
Not in this process. The agent sorts and manages: the order reaches whoever enters it, with the customer already recognised and the summary at the top. If entering orders is the bigger pain, flag it in the flow test and we'll talk about it on the call.
First of all, analyse your inbox.
In the flow test, email sorting is already selected. Enter how often and how many minutes: you immediately see the working hours it takes.
Rather talk it through now? Let's talk about your process