An Introduction
Communication is vital for any company and there are a few rules one must follow when using something as effective and instant as email. As technology has become more readily available, and businesses expand further, more and more companies and firms use email as their primary source of conveying instructions, information and ideas.
However, with the convenience of such communication, one can find that there are many advantages and disadvantages of email that need to be understood before one can successfully use emails to their greatest potential. There are various advantages of email. For every carefully worded business email, there are hundreds of spam emails that many would prefer to do without. There are a few specific advantages and disadvantages of using email in business communication
What are the Advantages of Email?
Convenience
The main reason email is so popular is that it is easy to set up an account and even easier to maintain it. This ease of use makes it possible for anyone with a basic understanding of technology to operate it. An email account will also organise all incoming and outgoing correspondence which makes it much more manageable.
The best part about email is its instantaneous nature. While there was a time when emails were not as prompt. However, that time has long passed. Today we enjoy some of the fastest correspondence. It cuts down on the use of paper for communication and allows one the ability to reply to an email or to forward it at will.
Speed
The key reason email was effective because of the sheer amount of time that could be saved by merely sending one as compared to other forms of correspondence. Today, emails are virtually instantaneous. Even with the advent of new forms of communication, emails are still one of the fastest modes of communication limited only by human promptness.
Affordable
While some businesses may need to buy an email server, they are usually quite inexpensive. While some businesses will need to purchase an affordable email server, most personal email accounts can be obtained without so much as a penny being spent.
Easier Screening
As we mentioned before, not all emails are useful. A majority of emails sent today can be attributed to spam which tends to fill up an inbox with largely unnecessary information.
Privacy
Given that emails are a large part of most business communications, such forms of communication must be secure to minimise the leaking of information. Popular email servers invest a considerable sum to keep their services from being hacked.
Despite the convenience of using emails for effective communication, the disadvantages of using email in business communication must not be overlooked. There are a few areas where it isn’t as effective or valuable.
Disadvantages of Email
Mode of Communication
While emails are a great way to communicate, they are not exactly the most ideal when communication is concerned. Sometimes it's important to have in-person communication to convey certain instructions or ideas effectively. Email cannot be a substitute for such times.
Conflicting Ideas
While it is acceptable for people to voice different ideas and positions via email, it is also possible that certain key pieces of information in any email could be misunderstood. This issue will only compound itself if no follow-up is carried out.
Time
While the email is known for near-instantaneous transmission of a message, it can also result in a significant loss of time because most employees will have to spend a majority of their time sorting through emails from different branches. It only gets worse as one moves higher up on the corporate ladder.
Origination and History of Email
The Internet email service that has become an important part of today’s world, can be found back in the early days of ARPANET, with specifications for encrypting email messages being published as early as 1973. (RFC 561). A basic email sent in the early 1970s looks comparable to one sent today.
Ray Tomlinson is the person who is credited with inventing networked email; in 1971, he created the first system that allowed users on separate hosts on the ARPANET to send mail to others, using the @ sign to link the user name to a destination server. By the mid of 1970, this was the form that widely came to be known as email. Email at that time was most likely used by "computer geeks" in certain fields such as in the field of engineering and science.
FAQs on Email: Advantages and Disadvantages
1. Are there any specific rules to keep in mind when sending an official Email?
While personal emails can be created based on a whim, official emails require certain unspoken rules that everyone must follow. Humour and sarcasm are often frowned upon when used improperly. The subject line must be clear and specific to let the recipient know what they can expect from the email and what they will need to do if it is a request. Any attachments sent via email should be double-checked to ensure that the correct file was sent.
2. Are there any specific fonts to be used in official Emails?
The fonts to be used in official emails must have a professional appeal to maintain a certain level of decorum. While certain fonts like Calibri are used often, certain fonts are frowned upon. Using overly playful fonts like Comic Sans tends to detract from the message the sender intends to convey. Also, it is not an acceptable practice to use “all caps” in your email as this is equivalent to shouting.
3. Are emails the only viable form of Communication?
While emails are the most widely used and most trackable method of communication, they are not the best or only way to communicate in an official capacity. Before the advent of email, most communication was done by more conventional methods at the time. While email is still seen as a great way to communicate, people still prefer meeting in-person to convey and discuss more complex ideas or instructions.
4. What is the limitation of an attachment file?
Email is being used widely in the modern world, also it has been evolving and upgrading as time has passed. Many new features and options have been added in it with time one of which and majorly used is the option for attaching a file which has resulted very beneficial in improving the email experience and has also led to ease of time. Email messages can include one or more attachments, which are files of different types that are attached to the email. PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, and scanned images of paper files, PNG files or JPEG format files and images are common attachments.
In an ideal case, there are absolutely no technical limitations on the size or quantity of attachments in theory. In practicality, however, the email clients, servers, and Internet service providers have imposed several varying limits on the size of entire emails and the files, limiting them basically around 25MB or less. Furthermore, for technical reasons, attachment sizes as seen by these transport systems may differ from what the user sees, making it difficult for senders to determine if they can safely transfer a file by email. Various file hosting services are available and widely utilized when larger files need to be shared.
5. What does the term SPAM mean in reference to email?
SPAM is a common term in today’s world that many people would have already heard and everyone has also become used to it with time. Let’s understand what the term SPAM means. Unsolicited bulk email is referred to as "spam" in the context of email. Because of the low cost of sending such email, up to 30% of total email traffic was spam by 2003, jeopardizing the utility of email as a practical tool.
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 in the United States and similar laws in other countries had a minor impact, and a number of effective anti-spam techniques now largely mitigate the impact of spam by filtering or rejecting it for the majority of users, but the amount of spam sent remains high—and increasingly consists of malicious content or links rather than product advertisements. For example, in September 2017, the rate of spam to valid email grew to 59.56 per cent. In 2021, spam email is predicted to account for 85% of all emails.
