E-Mail Might Be The Killer Application, But Poorly Managed, It Could Bury You

In the past, when I returned from a business trip, my (paper) inbox was stacked so high that large elastic bands were used to group the correspondence. My desktop (that is, furniture) was cluttered with pink "While You Were Out" telephone messages–many several days old. I dealt with the letters, memos and telephone calls, and usually ended up playing telephone tag for days. And all that paper was stored in rows of file cabinets in a file room.

Today, I hardly receive any paper letters or memos at all, and records are kept on a server.

So whats the problem? The fact is that e-mail is a great business tool for our industry (few would argue), but it needs to be managed properly. Since it came upon us so fast, we really didnt get a chance to change our behaviors and habits. So the problem is not with e-mail itself. The problem is with our ability to adapt to the new medium.

Had we known that e-mail would become so ubiquitous, we might have done a better job at protecting ourselves from the e-mail maladies that now entangle our agencies and companies. And we probably would not be viewing e-mail as such a problem.

It has changed how people communicate, sometimes in a good way. We do so more frequently, and easily keep everyone involved.

But sometimes it hampers good communication. In place of thoughtful content, we send and receive short bursts of often grammatically and emotionally challenged communiqu?s that we sometimes regret. We also get immersed in non-real-time discussions over disconnected e-mails. I find people replying with ideas long after a problem was resolved–they just didnt know it. Kind of like the World War II soldier hiding in the mountains 20 years after the war had ended.

We are unable to turn back the clock, so it is going to be more difficult to transition now rather than when you obtained your first e-mail address, but its not impossible to do.

Regaining control begins with using multiple e-mail accounts and good software to filter incoming messages.

If you only have one e-mail address, then I can safely say that this will be the root of many of your problems.

Use multiple accounts for different purposes and never use your primary e-mail address for ordering personal products online. Even if you opt-out of mailing lists, youre bound to get on one.

And software filtering is essential. Yes, it takes time to set up the filters and folders, but its well worth it. When I look at my inbox, my mail is pre-sorted and prioritized.

I like wireless e-mail with an "always on" connection so that you can deal with important messages as they arrive rather than when you get back to the office or when you can get connected.

Wireless e-mail is very close to instant messaging, but unlike IM, it provides more time to think and reply. And the e-mail is saved, unlike IM.

Your firm can also teach the staff about e-mail etiquette and protocol.

One of my pet peeves is the lack of use of the "Subject" line. If we are engaged in a long series of e-mail exchanges and forwards to discuss a topic, most people do not change the original "Subject" line at all. You end up with dozens of messages from various people all labeled with the same subject.

The subject line is a powerful piece of real estate. Put your key point on that line and it speeds communication. Passing along someone elses subject line is not always a good idea.

There are many ways that independent agencies and insurance companies can improve how they communicate with each other, their clients and policyholders. E-mail is certainly one of them.

It wasnt long ago that insurer e-mail was internal for the most part and insurance agencies did not have e-mail capability on each desktop. Weve come a long way over the past few years.

(Im seeing fewer AOL addresses among the smaller firms as well. Nothing against America Online, but getting a domain name for a business is simple.)

But if e-mail is killing you, youre letting your e-mail manage you rather than the other way around.

If you need help, talk to your information technology people or check into e-mail services and plug-ins. There are good solutions to e-mail problems and the tools are getting better.

As always, send me your feedback (but no e-mail, please).

Gregory A. Maciag is president and chief executive officer of ACORD, the non-profit industry standards association based in Pearl River, N.Y., with offices in Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, March 18, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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