Advantages and Disadvantages of International Business Email
Dixie Snyder
Colorado Technical University

August 31, 2015

Email is an effective and convenient means for business communications internally as well as externally however, with the limitless possibilities and ever expanding global reach this comes some disadvantages.
The advantages are; The speed of which information can be sent from one person to one or more persons. Email reduces geographic barriers that previously would of took days, weeks or months to receive. With the speed of information being transferred from one or more persons, efficiency leads to higher productivity. Filing and recalling dialogue that has transpired is easy to filter, recalling proposals from others outside of your organization can be quickly done and avoiding the time it would of took to go through reams of papers. Prioritizing email based off subject lines increase the user’s productivity at a glance by determining as to whom the correspondence is from and what it relates too. With traditional methods such as mail it took time to arrive, open, sort and file. Marketing information can now reach a wider audience which would benefit from the use of products. Expenses are reduced due to the use of email, cost savings are seen in a reduction of postage by utilizing free web based services such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. General postage prior to email could of ran hundreds of dollars a month while internet does incur cost the saving and productivity are still less than traditional methods. The disadvantages are; Individuals are receiving more emails than they can digest which leads to information overload more so than ever with email being a 24/7 service and those who tend to “tune-in” all hours of the day or night. This leads to no down time and higher stressful situations amongst health problems and other various mental, physical and emotional situations. It is important that emails do not become so burdensome, that more time is spent answering email that doing work. Emails must be prioritized, and accurate subject lines chosen. Skimming emails is common, so make sure that the major point in your email is handled first. Emails are emotionless vessels in the transfer of information and relay on impersonal perceptions that dependent upon the receiver can be taken a variety of ways based on that’s person(s) perception. Information transferred via email can become more complicated and less comprehendible if the sender should send complicated procedures or complex questions; in some or most cases face to face or phone conversations would be easier for the receiver to understand. Dividing emails into multiple messages is important with different subject lines, thus making it easier to reply; people often tend to only read part of the message and not all which leads to unanswered questions or missed items and more time on the senders part to gather all the information they need. Virus’s are a common problem related to email thus corrupting the receiver’s computer and potentially business servers. Security for employee PC’s are to prevent loss of information or data hacking is necessity that every business must have to protect documents/information of value. These additional security measures will cost business some to extent of hiring additional employees to monitor, software programs and in the event of a loss sometimes business relationships are at stake. Over all, email has improved the way we conduct business and has found it’s self to be a proven valued asset and with the proper courtesy and forethought productivity will stay high as long as the proper steps are taken to ensure minimal risk to the business.

References

Acevedo, L. (n.d.). The Advantages of Email in Business Communication. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-email-business-communication-122.html

Vitez, O. (n.d.). Disadvantages of Business Communication Technology. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-business-communication-technology-1799.html

Swenson, L. (n.d.). Disadvantages of Using Email to Communicate in a Company. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/disadvantages-using-email-communicate-company-6630.html