If I am raising such an issue in a community of shipping and ports – the first reaction would be that this guy has lost his balance – being under a lockdown for long!

But this is question is making round from 2015-16 and may be there is some substance in it.

Before you close this page – do hold back!

There was a very strange case in the files of a world renowned insurance company that the ship-owners had sent an email to the charterers via the brokers and it was also stipulated that there was time-bar for demand and settlement. Twice did the mail was sent. No bounce recorded. But there was no receipt and the case was in court. So let’s not say that it is infallible. There are technical views that allows us to believe that it is the accepting server quality and job performed by it which can create problems.

We shall come back to this again little later, but let’s proceed with the history.
According to Wikipedia: Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages (“mail”) between people using electronic devices. Email made limited use for the first time in the 1960s, but users could only send it to people who used the same computer, and some early email systems also sent instant messages to both the author and recipient at the same time was required to be online.

Ray Tomlinson is credited as the inventor of email, as in 1971 (a few different dates are available) he developed the first system capable of sending mail between users on different hosts of ARPANET, using which to add usernames. Done using the “@” sign for. With a destination server. By the mid-1970s it was now recognized as an email.

A “store-and-forward” structure is the backbone of the email today. Email servers accept, forward, distribute and store messages. Neither users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously. They only need to connect briefly, usually as a mail server or a webmail interface takes a long time to send or receive a message or download it.

The multipurpose internet mail extensions (MIME) were required to carry the character sets and multi-media contents as attachments when the ASCII text-only medium of communication was dominating the scene. UTF-8 is often the recommended standard for international email addresses but it is yet to be accepted by all.

It is now time to that we delve deeper!

Email is not always the most effective, fast and reliable form of communication. If your inbox closes with updates and there are mails where you are copied there are reasons to believe that some important emails can get messed up. Therefore you would like to consider your other options.

In the end, it comes to this: The form of your communication should depend almost entirely on what you are trying to communicate. Here are our suggestions for bypassing (or rather supplementing) email options.

First one could be SLACK. It is a messaging application for “teams”, which allows you to create multiple ‘channels’, which can be used for different conversation threads. You can ensure that you are only involved in the respective channels, and you get notifications whenever your name is mentioned by another user.

It has capability to integrate with other apps “like Twitter” and has a direct IM feature; giving you the freedom to use as a quick conduit for instant dissemination. Generally it has been experienced that there is a drastic reduction in the number of emails circulating among colleagues: for good: peer-to-peer interaction, less sensitive to time, message groups of people, informality.

We can put SKYPE in second position. Skype calls can dispense with Long and backward email trails (especially those that are time sensitive!). I don’t think that I have to describe how Skype works. It’s a free video-call application bunched with IM functions (& voice calls) and with option for screen sharing. Certainly we find it appropriate for conversations with distant colleagues, long email trails, time sensitive conversations, visual aids (screen sharing), online meeting places (especially chartering negotiations – which also prefers messengers).

‘Yammer’ is a slightly complex tool than the Skype. It is projected as an enterprise-social-networking-service that can assist employees to collaborate across departments, various distant locations, and also across different business applications. Some smart 4PL companies are using this. In this mode you can create groups for individual issues or projects. These groups, then can share files and facilitate collaboration, internally. As this integrates with “Office apps” the “Office users” finds it comfortable to work with afamiliar interface.

No body imagined that the email system can be replaced by a project management tool. With the technology leap it is possible to do that. Here I shall be speaking about Asana. As a ‘task oriented system’ where the leader can organize his projects effortlessly. Each step can be annotated with comments and thus the group can be guided and be updated conversely by the team on specific issues. This transparent and straight forward interface enables the leader to monitor projects’ progress and take corrective action immediately. It’s quite focused communication tool.

It is time that we discuss about other widely used (not always for office purposes) such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Hope you have also felt in your own use of these – as too distracting. So to be serious in work, it is always better to choose an application that can be used from one’s workstation or a laptop. No distractions applicable. Google Hangouts is a wonderful way and everyone in the office (having a simple Google account) can use it without walking across the office space or loudly seeking clarification from a colleague. I bet it’s not that distracting.

Till these pandemic broke out – we strongly believed that the most effective form of communication was a quick 5-minute face to face conversation. But it will be many months or even a year when again things will follow the past normal pattern of communication in offices.

But whatever mode you follow now, do prepare the agenda in advance, limit on-line interaction time – be extremely specific in communication as regards performance levels, numbers and time lines.

Till we see better days – the coffee mugs can rest peacefully in the pantry.