Is email the wrong tool in the right place? For many companies, email has become the de-facto standard for almost all communications thanks to its immediacy and simplicity. • Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? • Is email the best tool for business document exchange between supply chain partners for orders and invoices? • Does your email prioritise sales orders over easy money opportunities from new friends in far away places? • Is there a viable alternative? • What should you be looking for and how well does your email measure up? To help you answer these questions, we’ve produced a short accessible guide for you. The guide identifies the following "best practice" principles for business document exchange: 1. Be able to share information in a timely reliable manner 2. Ensure information gets into the correct processing pipe consistently 3. Provide shared visibility of processing status 4. Allow for consistent use of agreed mechanisms for resolution of exceptions 5. Create a shared, authenticated audit trail 6. Provide lean operation enhancement capabilities The guide evaluates how well email performs against these criteria. To access the full guide please click on the link in the last slide.

1. Email – the wrong tool in the right place?
A guidE to thE hiddEn costs of
EmAil whEn usEd for businEss
trAnsAction procEssing
Produced by for business people

2. introduction
Email is an amazing tool that has revolutionised business communications and driven the use of the
internet by providing almost instantaneous exchange of information between people. Its ease of
use, ubiquity, immediacy and low transaction cost has helped it win out against meetings, fax,
post and phone.
From a business perspective, this tool on everybody’s
desktop is now carrying megaloads of spam, personal
email, email duplicates, triplicates, updates and of course
the key business transaction documents such as orders and
invoices.
Do the key documents that your business depends on
always get the immediate attention they need and
deserve? Are they ever mistakenly overlooked or left
languishing in the wrong mailbox?
Is there a hidden cost to your business that has never
been articulated for want of an apparent alternative?
This whitepaper highlights a number of attributes that are
of critical significance to the timely exchange of supply
chain information and explores if email is in some cases the
weakest link?
Produced by for business people

3. six key functions
There are 6 key functions required for a document transaction system to provide seamless trading
between supply chain partners creating efficiencies and cost savings for each member. A solution
built on “best practice” principles for document transactions should meet the following criteria:
1. Be able to share information in
a timely reliable manner
2. Ensure information gets into the
correct processing pipe consistently
3. Provide shared visibility of
processing status
4. Allow for consistent use of
agreed mechanisms for resolution
of exceptions
5. Create a shared, authenticated
audit trail
6. Provide lean operation
enhancement capabilities
Can email meet all of these criteria?
Produced by for business people

4. learn more
to access the full guide
to the hidden costs of email
when used for business transaction processing
please visit our
website
Produced by for business people