Risks of managing teams by email only

A lot of in-house teams still manage their daily workload from their inbox. Somehow normal. We love email. But it is very suboptimal and not future-proof. Here is why. We get so many incoming emails on a daily basis. On average, for in-house tax, it is about 75 emails per day. That is 375 incoming emails per week. Imagine what happens when you are out. This is not really motivating to take some time off, right? We all get these emails: “Can you help me with the tax treatment of this dividend distribution” “Can you review this return before we file” “Here is the data for your TP simulation” “What is the cash tax paid over FY24” “A new tax audit will start in Spain” “Are we allowed to do this business transaction” Here are the problems when you manage your workload from our inbox: First of all, you will be in firefighting mode all the time. You can never beat your inbox. Secondly, you will get a LIFO bias. But “last in” does not necessarily mean “most important”. Audit trails and controls from your inbox are painful. Definitely when mails get archived. Yikes. Key person risks are huge. Super valuable info will be trapped in inboxes and archives and when the owner leaves, you are in trouble… The inbox in itself is one of the most problematic isolated data sources. No dots can get connected with other data or systems… Incoming emails are not always for you. So you lose time to manage stakeholders and assign the right task to the right person, with the right deadline. We are in 2025, right? The good news is that AI agents can solve a lot of these problems. However, here is gentle nudge to show enough ambition. You don’t want standalone, isolated agents. Ideally, they should automate your inbox management by relying on your company-specific data (like linking incoming requests to the right entity or tax registration, in the right period, the right stakeholder…). If we take it one step further, the agent can also help with the actual treatment of the mail itself. Again, by relying on company-specific data, and by blending in some tax regulatory data. Sounds exciting, isn’t it? Well the good news is that all of this is already possible. If you're keen to see how we’re doing it at Loctax with the latest technology, including AI agents and automated document analysis, join us next Wednesday, June 11, for our monthly product webinar. Register here 👉: https://lnkd.in/da6meSyh

We lost 12 weeks once and millions in sales - all because of one email. One…Unanswered…Email! A Supplier flagged a critical delay. The message went into a shared inbox. No-one followed up… No-one escalated the situation… No-one took any action! Twelve weeks later, production stalled. The team scrambled. Blame flew. Fingers were pointed. But the real issue - no one owned the communication. In Risk Management, time is everything and silence is dangerous. If your team doesn’t have: - Clear escalation paths with timeline KPI’s - Defined communication protocols - Allocated ownership of every inbound risk signal You're not managing risk…you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to it.

Do you still rely on email to manage projects with your team? It’s time to rethink that approach. Here’s why: Managing projects via email is like trying to juggle with one hand tied behind your back. It’s cumbersome, inefficient, and frankly, outdated. Here’s what you’re dealing with: 1. Email Black Hole: Important project updates get lost in the avalanche of daily emails, causing critical delays. 2. Chaos Overload: Trying to track tasks and deadlines through email chains is like herding cats. It’s chaotic and prone to mistakes. 3. Teamwork Trouble: Real-time collaboration? Forget it. Email makes it nearly impossible to sync up with your team effectively. 4. Document Disaster: Keeping track of the latest document versions through email attachments is a recipe for confusion and outdated information. 5. Inbox Overload: Wading through a flood of emails just to find project updates wastes valuable time and energy. Switch to a project management tool that centralizes communication, organizes tasks, and supports real-time collaboration. These tools help keep your team on the same page, streamline workflows, and boost productivity. Ditch the email chaos and embrace a smarter, more efficient way to manage your projects. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner! #ProjectManagement #EmailOverload #TeamCollaboration #WorkSmarterNotHarder