Reduce email dependence with Talkspirit

Hours slip by, and you rarely devote yourself fully to finishing your projects. (Too) many requests from your colleagues or your clients by email often distract you from the objectives you had set yourself at the beginning of the morning. 

And yet, implementation of Talkspirit would allow you to drastically reduce the numerous requests you receive throughout each day. 

To effectively meet your communication objectives, it's important to determine in which cases the use of email adds value. 

For example, email would not be the optimal communication channel when making a decision. The numerous exchanges could lead to a possible loss of information and thus to the project's failure. 

For optimal management of all your daily missions, it's essential to first determine which exchanges take place by email or on the platform.

Define the objectives of each tool

Target which situations require use of email or your collaborative platform. 

Perhaps some subjects need to be dealt with by email? What about exchanges with your customers and partners? 

Adapt the processes in place within your structure (by profession, department, branch) to the Talkspirit platform. Fluid or one-off exchanges can thus take place within a chat discussion linked to the group, while official communications can be shared in the news feed.

If the implementation of a collaborative platform is not intended to completely kill email, it still offers some advantages such as: 

• the possibility to trace your exchanges and find your documents easily,
• modify shared information. After all, it's not possible to modify a sent mail (and there we spare you some wrinkles!)
• The possibility to manage the versions of your files: no more endless email exchanges on a project with co-editing!
  

Thus, we recommend using the platform in the context of a project involving several participants and requiring numerous exchanges. 

To ensure that exchanges on the platform are organized in an optimal way, create dedicated communication spaces (groups, drives, chat rooms), designed and configured for these exchanges.

You should also ensure that each employee has an account on the platform and the necessary permissions to carry out their daily tasks: 

• Will he be able to post to the groups? 
• Will he be able to comment on the news feed contributions?
• Will he be able to access changes to shared files on the drive?
• Will he need specific management permissions at the group or drive level?
  

Allow yourself time to make the transition 

Rather than banning email overnight, we recommend a gradual transition while setting achievable goals. 

For optimal information flow, we recommend that you include the management line in the implementation of the tool. This transition from email to the platform can then be carried out by workgroup, department, and job.

During this transition phase, we recommend you communicate from the platform as well as by email to ensure that all your employees are informed of your structure's transition to the new platform. 

Implementation of this transition to the platform must be thought out and organized in order to avoid duplication when you communicate. 

The use of a new tool requires time to set up: it must be accepted to be used daily by its users. The zero email objective will therefore only be achievable after a few months.

Avoid duplicate communication

It is recommended to stop communicating by email with users who do not connect to the platform as this will not encourage them to join the platform. 

It is not uncommon for the platform to be perceived as an additional effort to be made because its use is not yet integrated into the user's routine, and the user prefers to continue working with the tools he or she knows how to use. 

We therefore recommend that you share important or official communications from your platform as this will allow you to:

• see which users have seen the information 
• react to the information shared by clicking on "like" or by posting a comment, 
• or remind certain users by mentioning them. 
  

However, you can send an email with a link to the shared publication on your platform. 

Set goals for yourself 

Talkspirit allows you to track certain indicators such as:

• the percentage of active users on the platform, 
• the number of publications, chats, and reactions shared.
  

However, it is also possible for authorized persons (usually one CIO) to monitor the number of emails exchanged between colleagues. 

Compare the evolution of email usage after just one, two, or three months of using the platform! You'll certainly notice a reduction in the use of email after a few months: this is the honeymoon effect!

Lead by example 

If it's essential to think about the rules of use of your platform as well as the strategies to put in place to facilitate the use of the tool, it's essential to respect the outlined scheme to succeed in your project. 

All parties involved in the project (referent, management line, sponsor, ambassadors, etc.) must respect the rules and best practices. 

Lead by example and limit your use of email by preferring to use your collaborative platform. 

The use of this new collaborative tool does not only imply a functional change but also a change in the user's work behaviour. This transition, if it requires an implementation as well as a time of adaptation to the tool, also allows an evolution of the way of producing, sharing and communicating information.