Email is turning 44 this year and is continuing to gain in importance despite skeptical voices, even in these days of social media popularity. The US market research institute Radicati reckons that there are currently over 4.3 billion email accounts and 2.6 billion email users around the world. By 2019 the number of accounts is predicted to rise by another 26 percent and the number of users is likely to increase by 12 percent.
Flexible usability simplifies corporate cooperation
The internet era’s oldest means of communication is especially popular where workplace collaboration is essential. Due to its flexibility email is expected to play a decisive role in business communication over the coming years – even at the workplace of the future. This is because ideas, work orders or ongoing documentation can be exchanged extremely fast via email – around the clock and independent of who is currently using which smart phone, PC or tablet computer. The sender doesn’t have to worry about which device or software the recipient is using.
Email as a crucial component of the modern workplace
Nowadays many users reply to emails when it suits them best, for instance after office hours or on weekends. Politicians have already shown a reaction to this development. In some countries, there are even initiatives to remove the fixed working hour system from the labor law, in order to adapt it to the realities of the digital world and modern, flexible workplace organization. With the help of email, working time and leisure time can be independently and flexibly broken up into smaller blocks to suit the requirements of the job. Being present in the office during fixed working hours is thus no longer a necessary prerequisite for sharing business ideas and information successfully.
Email continues to be the most important marketing instrument
Email is not, however, only used successfully for business collaboration. It also continues to serve as the most popular marketing instrument. Open rates for email newsletters, for instance, average approximately 20.6 percent, while around 4 percent of recipients who open newsletters go on to click on one of the links contained therein.
Efficient multi-channel marketing on one single platform
To carry out email marketing campaigns, companies are increasingly using cloud-based transmission platforms such as Retarus WebExpress. By using a web browser, this service allows users to create intuitive marketing emails and newsletters within a few minutes, send them out and easily analyze the transmission results. This is especially advantageous with email transmissions which are time critical and comprise a high volume. Moreover, absolutely no investment in software or hardware is required. Transmission functions and centralized administration of the campaigns facilitate effective targeting as well as immediate success management to ensure top response rates are achieved.
The challenge of email security
When exchanging business critical or personal information via email, it is crucial that companies secure the messages appropriately and protect their corporate IT infrastructure from digital attacks as email can act as an easy gateway for virus, spam or phishing attacks. To counteract this threat, providers of managed services such as Retarus offer scalable, comprehensive cloud solutions which combine spam filters, multilevel virus protection, gateway-based encryption and innovative email management. In addition, such email security services enable audit-proof archiving of emails and guarantee that all data is processed in accordance with the most stringent data privacy regulations.
Email is key to business success
No matter whether for service, business or marketing communication – despite its old age, as a communication standard email continues to contribute significantly to company success. Email will also play an especially important role in creating the digital “workplace of the future” due to its flexible application possibilities. There is no end in sight to this remarkable success story. Happy Birthday to you, Email!
