Think email is dead? Think again!

Email is still one of the most critical communication tools in the modern digital workplace. It's an efficient way to collaborate and connect easily with colleagues near or far.  

Despite all the hype around digital transformation, making the successful transition to a Digital Workplace is no easy feat. With technological changes comes cultural complexities that can make it difficult for organizations to keep up or even get started on their journey towards modernization. A great example would be all the predictions about social collaboration supposedly sounding the death knell for email. But over ten years later, we’re nowhere near replacing this traditional communications method. 

Why the death of email never happened 

Industry experts continuously forecast the death of email in favor of social collaboration and AI-enabled automation. However, this ignores very real cultural nuances that can complicate change. The fact remains that despite some evolutionary steps forward to improve our use of emails, it's clear that we're still just scratching the surface when it comes to its full potential. In fact, we’re now seeing how crucial this medium is as a tool for modern working practices. 

The newest technologies always seem to be the most exciting, but their capabilities often don’t live up to expectations. We don’t just seek solutions for updating our business processes with a few features; we're looking for technological advancements that promote an end-to-end streamlined workflow. Most organizations have a vision for what a Digital Workplace will look like, with email. It's still one of the main tools for bridging technology gaps and helping to achieve technological change towards these possibilities. 

Collaboration should be tailored to meet the specific needs of each organization for optimal productivity. Companies that fail to consider how their staff work and adjust technology accordingly may find employees reliant on inefficient or unsupported methods. This reduces engagement levels in the process. Investing time into understanding usage patterns helps optimize movement between workloads, thus invigorating user enthusiasm. 

Understanding the way people work is crucial to realizing a productive Digital Workplace, and email tends to be at the heart of it. By acting as an all-important bridge between various business operations, email plays an instrumental role in achieving optimal efficiency. 

The future is automated 

Email isn't going anywhere, but it's not a one-stop shop for collaboration. As organizations shift focus to the Digital Workplace, their collaboration needs have evolved. While the volume of email organizations receive has decreased thanks to much improved spam management, the value of email remains solid. Its value as an enterprise tool is still strong when combined with social media platforms and document sharing capabilities. That’s why the combination of these types of applications together makes up a complete Digital Workplace package. 

The truth is that email is the backbone of modern communication. No matter the progress of other collaboration tools, email is still a vital and popular form of business communication. It's especially useful for broadcast notifications outside your organization, enabling you to reach individuals easily across multiple devices. Yet it’s not designed as an ideal tool for complex collaboration. Companies should keep this in mind when working on projects. Email may well reduce its role from being a messaging platform to a notification service supplementing various specialized apps, but it certainly won't be abandoned altogether given how accessible and widespread its use is. 

But with continued advancements in AI & Machine Learning tools such as ChatGPT being integrated into search and productivity solutions, email's integration into our daily work activities looks set for an upgrade. 

Using the best tools to hand 

To stay competitive in today's marketplace, it is imperative for businesses to understand what their goals are and how the tools they use can help them achieve those objectives. From people, processes, to technology, having a comprehensive Digital Workplace strategy requires taking the full picture into consideration.  

For effective collaboration and communication, there's more than one way to get the job done. With so many tools already at hand, you can do wonders when it comes to streamlining performance. Get the most out of your collaboration and communication systems with a few simple steps like policy changes, improved IRM tools, and better cloud sharing practices. But no matter which tool you use, it’s important to remember that email serves as one of the crucial connectors between all three elements. So, don’t ignore the value of email over other communication platforms. You want to ensure you use it to its fullest. 

And you can further enhance your use of email with solutions such as Exclaimer. Its award-winning business email signature software is trusted by over 50,000 customers worldwide and supercharges all those valuable, personal interactions between your company and your audiences over email. 

Learn more about Exclaimer or get yourself a free trial to see the power of email signature software for yourself.