Manage team emails?

Manage team emails?

Didn't find your answer?

We are a small team - 10 of us.

We currently use Outlook Exchange.

Is there a simple add on or another tool that we enable us to view team emails?  So we are not duplicating work.  

Replies (23)

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Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
24th Sep 2015 12:47

Not sure what you mean

If you mean that each member of the team uses Outlook on their workstation to access Exchange Server on a server, you can simply log into the Exchange Management Console and set Full Access permissions on each recipient's mailbox.  Each team member will then have to set up their Outlook to read the mailboxes of the others.  The terminology and methods may vary with different versions of Windows, Outlook and Exchange Server.

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Out of my mind
By runningmate
24th Sep 2015 12:49

Err, why not use Outlook Exchange?

If you need someone to help you set it up correctly you could speak to Chris at Inovix http://www.inovix.co.uk/

RM

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By nmprobinson
24th Sep 2015 13:35

Not sure...

...that is what I am looking for.  We would have too many inbox's down the left had side of Outlook and this would not let me (or my team) see what emails have been sent to ABC Limited.  

Also I am not looking to see an entire in/out box of each staff.  Ideally just those emails to and from clients.

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By Howard Marks
24th Sep 2015 14:04

Team emails

What is a 'team' email?

 

Are you running a singular shared email address for client facing stuff (such as team@) that everybody has access to then personalised ones (name@) for internal stuff?

 

Or it that ^^^ what you'd like to achieve?

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Replying to SXGuy:
By nmprobinson
24th Sep 2015 14:35

name@

Howard Marks wrote:

What is a 'team' email?

 

Are you running a singular shared email address for client facing stuff (such as team@) that everybody has access to then personalised ones (name@) for internal stuff?

 

Or it that ^^^ what you'd like to achieve?

 

Thanks.  We use name@.  So we all have our own emails.

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Replying to The Dullard:
By Howard Marks
24th Sep 2015 14:49

Emails

nmprobinson wrote:

Howard Marks wrote:

What is a 'team' email?

 

Are you running a singular shared email address for client facing stuff (such as team@) that everybody has access to then personalised ones (name@) for internal stuff?

 

Or it that ^^^ what you'd like to achieve?

 

Thanks.  We use name@.  So we all have our own emails.

 

Wouldn't it be easier then if you changed that so everything externally went out using a singular shared email address?  Signatures would still be person specific and incoming replies would be more manageable.

 

Just a thought...

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By BroadheadAccountants
24th Sep 2015 14:06

Where is the Exchange server; on site or off site?

Outlook Web Access can be good for occasional access to an email address otherwise as you identify connecting to Outlook on client machines could be an idea (but data is replicated).

 

 

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Replying to carnmores:
By nmprobinson
24th Sep 2015 14:36

.

BroadheadAccountants wrote:

Outlook Web Access can be good for occasional access to an email address otherwise as you identify connecting to Outlook on client machines could be an idea (but data is replicated).

 

 

Thanks.  Not sure.  That would not give me a list of all the emails sent to ABC Limited from all members of the team.

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By nmprobinson
24th Sep 2015 14:39

BTC...

...we use BTC for our practice management and I had hoped that it would be a feature to be added in the future - perhaps BTC could comment?

A new tab in BTC would be great that was able to "drag" across emails to/from that client email address.

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By redman7
24th Sep 2015 18:20

HelpScout
Check out HelpScout , sits on top of your email , we love it

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By marks
25th Sep 2015 00:56

document management system

Why not just save any relevant emails into a document management system such as Docusoft or Virtual Cabinet that everyone can then access.

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By Maslins
25th Sep 2015 09:12

Recently started using Front App.  Seems to tick a lot of boxes for us.

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By Vaughan Blake1
25th Sep 2015 09:44

The problem sounds like it's further 'upstream'

By the stage the email is about to go considerable duplicated work may have been done already.

Similarily, reveiwing sent emails is shutting the stable door after....

The same problem could presumably occur with telephone calls.

Why not review how work is allocated in the first place, eg one team member is the central point for each client?

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By nmprobinson
25th Sep 2015 11:48

No problem?

There is no problem but it would be useful to see all my teams emails to and from clients in one place.  Surely there is something that can offer this. 

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By Vaughan Blake1
25th Sep 2015 12:36

Confused?

Thought the issue was to avoid duplication per the OP? If you don't have duplication with your current system then the problem is simply archiving.

How do you retain copies of important emails at the moment? Can that system be tweaked to acheive what you want?

IRIS Practice Management can I believe hold emails in communications on a client by client basis.

emails can be saved in a networked file.  One file for each client.  Standardised sub files.

BCC/CC the partner in on each email on their clients.

Paper copies on a file even!

 

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By nmprobinson
25th Sep 2015 13:22

Outlook

The issue rears its head where for example just now an email arrived from a client re their weekly payroll.  I know that this client is behind with their bookkeeping records and so I sent them a reply thanking them for their payroll details but also reminding them that we needed their records.  It is possible that one of my team has already chased them for their bookkeeping records.

Is there not add for Outlook that takes all the emails to and from [email protected] and places them centrally somewhere?

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By Tim Vane
25th Sep 2015 15:31

But that is not something that should be dealt with by the email system, that is for the CRM/task management system. If the client record has been flagged for chasing up and if somebody has chased them they should have said so in the client record so that you know it has already been done (and when). If the other staff member also saves a link to the email as well, then fine, but they could just as easily have phoned the client to chase them.

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By nmprobinson
25th Sep 2015 15:35

Ok...

...thanks Tim maybe now we are getting somewhere.

Can you recommend a good, simple CRM system?

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By Manchester_man
25th Sep 2015 18:42

Logical office and HQ for Accountants are two practice management solutions that do this.

I have used both extensively.  You open up a client and can see all email communications between the practice and that client.  For example, you might see that X client has not yet returned signed accounts, you check LO or HQ, and see that staff member Y sent them a reminder yesterday, to which the client replied that the accounts are lost in the post.

HQ is cloud based whilst Logical Office is a desktop program. 

Both are reasonably priced.  HQ is £30 plus vat p/m and I think LO is around £40 p/m.

 

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By marks
25th Sep 2015 20:48

Stay clear of Logical Office

Cant comment on HQ.

But I got LO earlier in the year after two online demos and thought would solve a lot of problems I had but when I got it it was that difficult to set up and use that I gave up on it.

Eventually moved to IRIS so everything is working off the one database.

Dont use IRIS docs but use Docusoft and all emails in and out are saved to that per client together with all correspondence etc so everything can be seen for each client in the one place for all staff.

Any notes of telephone calls or other notes are saved in communications and notes in IRIS.

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By Howard Marks
26th Sep 2015 14:44

What are you really after?

Something to manage emails?

A CRM?

Or complete PM software that does all of the above plus workflow etc?

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Replying to petersaxton:
By nmprobinson
26th Sep 2015 14:48

Thanks...

Howard Marks wrote:

Something to manage emails?

A CRM?

Or complete PM software that does all of the above plus workflow etc?

Suggestions on any/all options would be appreciated. Which practice software does all of this?

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Elliott Chandler Picture
By elliottchandler
26th Sep 2015 23:06

Business Process
Hi, there are many software applications that can help tackle much of what has been discussed here. What needs to be done before selecting any software solution is understanding the business processes. Get them mapped and then align them with the software solutions available. We use SAP and TaskCentre. SAP is the central database and TaskCentre helps with mapping the processes into the software. There is no one size fits all. In addition consideration is needed on where the database is to reside, how it is backed up and by whom. There is more to consider than just selecting a CRM.
Elliott

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