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If you didn’t action an email, whose fault is it? Probably the sender because they put your name in the wrong email address line. This is part of a series of videos on Business Email Etiquette and Management from Mesmo Consultancy.
It focuses on:
This is part of a series on smart business email management and etiquette. It is one of the topics we cover in Mesmo Consultancy’s Smart Email Management Masterclasses. Contact us now for more information.
This is an Ellie Styles production. See https://ellie-stiles.myportfolio.com/
Tags: bcc, business email etiquette, Business email management, Mesmo Consultancy, Reply All, To versus Cc
World news continues to be dominated by Brexit, Trumps victory in the US election and Russia’s continued assault on Syria. It is therefore ‘not a bad to bury bad news’ as a British Civil Servant said on 9/11. However, some of the more interesting news on the email overload and cyber security front has not escaped our attention. There have been two significant fiascos one of which does indeed have links to the US election; five major cyber attacks and one ‘Reply All’ fiasco.
1. Did Clinton’s email misuse cost her the US election? Just as Hillary Clinton started to pull ahead, the FBI re-opened the case of her use of a private email server for US Government business. Well we all know the result. From our perspective there can be little doubt that this on-going Clinton email scandal was a contributory factor to her losing the battle to become the first American female president. Click here for a previous blog on this topic and how you can protect yourself from falling prey to such email-gate fiasco.
2. NHS email systems grinds to a halt. During a test run of a new system someone hit Reply All. 840,000 emails were then sent out and surprise, surprise the system collapsed. Avoiding such Reply All disasters is the focus of this months Mesmo Consultancy Blog.
3. Five serious leaks of personal information. The Tesco Bank cyber attack with 9,000 accounts targeted and £2.5M stolen from them. Two dating agencies: Adult Friend Finder cyber attack and Penthouse cyber attack were hacked with 420 million names and personal data stolen. In these two cases like the Ashley Madison, it was probably more about looking for groups of users and famous names. The Three cyber attack put six million customer’s at risk. Whatever the motives, all five serve to underline the worrying increase in cyber attacks and need for protecting your on-line credentials. Click here for more on passwords protection.
4. Do organisations ever truly recover from a cyber attack. Some suggest that organisation’s reputations are permanently damaged after such attacks. How do you feel about Tesco Bank, Yahoo (a recent victim) Three (today’s victim)? Perhaps it’s time to ask your CIO/IT Director how robust is their cyber policy and technology. Click here for more on protecting your and your organisation’s reputation.
5. Yes, we now spend more time than ever on email. Abode found we spend on average one working day a week on email (7.4 hours). This is a 7.6% year on year increase. Contrary to popular belief Millennials spend the most time dealing with email – albeit mobile devices are now the dominant and preferred device. Of that time half is on work-related emails and much of our use is driven by the instant gratitude society many inhabit both at work and socially. The study is US-based but there is no reason to suggest the UK is any different.
We will return to this topic next month with more startling statistics on how much email misuse is destroying the fabric of our lives. We will also review technologies to help reduce email overload.
Tags: Adult Friend Finder cyber attack, Clinton email scandal, Cyber attacks, Email fiasco, NHS Email Fiasco, Penthouse cyber attack, Reply All, Tesco cyber attack, Three cyber attack
A few days ago the NHS email server ground to a halt as one person hit Reply All to a test email. Who was at fault the sender or the recipient? There are many who feel the Reply All button should actually be removed from all email programmes. Is this a sledge hammer to crack a nut? Or is it more about applying modern business email etiquette and maybe alternative technologies.
For many hitting Reply All is done purely for egotistical reasons, eg to cover their backside, demonstrate their cleverness in finding a fault with what the sender is saying. For others it is stupidity, because they know no better, no one has every explained properly the difference between Reply and Reply All and under which circumstances such business email etiquette is or is not acceptable.
The organisation too maybe at fault for not having clearly understood principles of email best practice. Yes, they are probably in the big tome called Company Policy, but how many of us read it after our Induction Course. Indeed Induction Courses are often simply a breeding ground for chronic attacks of information overload designed to make you forget all common sense.
Reply All can also be either pure laziness or a result of responding too fast without thinking through who really needs to see your response.
Clearly, there are times when Reply All is needed, the obvious one being during an email conversation, although again one might ask if email is really the right medium.
Here are seven easy ways to avoid such Reply All disasters like the recent NHS case.
As senders
For recipients
For both sender and recipient
Reply All disasters can be avoided by adopting sound email etiquette and making sure everyone understands them. Using the email software too and looking outside the inbox to alternative technologies/medium can help manage the potential for such disasters.
Are you are subject to the unnecessary Reply All culture? Call us and ask about our Smart Email management masterclass specially designed to improve performance and reduce the scope for such expensive disasters.
Tags: business email etiquette, Facebook for Business, OneNote, Reply All, Slack
Digital detoxing dominated the summer headlines as not just the Millennial generation tried it to recover from lack of sex and poor personal relations. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton’s public profile continued to suffer from the fall-out from using her personal email account for State business. Not quite email, but take a look at the self-assessment on how robust are your social media posts.
Last but not least there is still time to listen to Monica’s email best practice Q&A session on the Sasha Twining show on BBC Radio Solent. It’s about 2hrs 09 minutes into the whole programme. 
1. Digital detox the business imperative. Despite it being related to summer vacations, there are some very important messages around taking a digital detox even if only for a few hours. We still spend far too much time with our heads in our mobile devices and not enough seeing and listening properly to the here and now. This is a summary of some of the key articles.
2. How to avoid email overload and enjoy a digital detox. If you have not yet had a break, here are top tips on how to reduce the holiday email overload and enjoy a digital detox.
3. Should I hit Reply All – No. The New York Times devoted nearly half a page to the one word response to a reader’s question about hitting Reply All. That sums up how important the word ‘No’ can be.
4. Cash for favours, emails turn heat up on Clinton. Clinton’s use of a private email server for US Government business continues to dog her Presidential campaign. We’ve think before hitting send. What does this email say about me. What if it fell into the wrong hands. Few of us will make it to such a position of high office but even so emails we wish we had never sent have a habit of coming back to haunt us just as Hilary Clinton is finding out.
5. How safe are your social media posts? A very useful self-assessment exercise to help protect your your professional reputation.
Tags: BBC Radio Solent, Digital detox, Hilary Clinton and Email, holiday email overload, Millenials, Reply All, Sasha Twining