Marc Powell at Emailogic recently gave a talk to IT directors of some of the largest charities in the UK.
The title of the session was ‘Email and Virtual Meetings – Making them Pay’.
The topic resonated strongly with the audience – but whilst it was delivered to an IT group, it could have been just as relevant to HR and Finance.
Organisations invest significant sums in IT infrastructure such as email, Sharepoint, virtual meetings and instant messaging etc. They invest even more money in their people. But businesses often then scrimp when it comes to investing in training those people to use all this superb technology.
It’s like 1 + 1 = 1.1!
The reason for this is often because HR and Training are not included in plans for implementing these technologies.
Two examples of these implementation and training mismatches are email and virtual meetings.
There are many benefits gained by using both email and virtual meetings successfully. But so often they are poorly used, because staff are not provided with adequate training.
Benefits of Email
Time saving
Reduced storage
Improved Outlook performance
Improved file management
Less irrelevant emails
Less stress
Improved productivity
Benefits of virtual meetings
Less travel
Time saving
Reduced expenses
Increased flexibility
Meeting room release
Multi location attendance
Isolated location reach
More focus/ interaction
During 2013 Emailogic ran email a series of email productivity training webinars for RNLI staff. The sessions were delivered across the RNLI’s recently installed Lync system.
Results included a reduction of inbox size by over 40% together with a 28% reduction in number of emails sent. Also, following the training, staff were spending a staggering 67 minutes less every day on email.
‘Emailogic delivered the webinars very professionally using our recently launched
MS Lync system, and this really opened delegates eyes to the potential of Lync and has resulted in encouraging uptake in its use.
We are also delighted in the return on investment, with delegates reporting an amazing average of 67 minutes saved per day.’ John Le Rossignol – Learning Resources Manager
The time those staff saved, extrapolated over a year, would be enough to purchase two new B Class lifeboats!
Emailogic then provided the RNLI with a train the trainer workshop entitled: “How to design and facilitate successful webinars”. This workshop was provided to the RNLI training team to enable them to design and deliver new training courses nationally to staff using the RNLI Lync system.
These two training programmes were a relatively small investment and have produced a significant improvement in skills and ability to use email and virtual meetings software. It has also empowered those trained with the skills to coach others.
For more information about Emailogic contact Marc Powell on 01452 886556 or via email marc.powell@emailogic.com
