Team collaboration made effortless with Zoho TeamInbox

Any organization with multiple teams working together should have a robust system in place for collaboration and transparency. Zoho TeamInbox gives its users just that. Receiving messages in one place and collaborating over them in another place can be chaotic. Zoho TeamInbox is built with the intent to bridge this gap between external communication and internal collaboration. Conduct discussions with your team and collaborate over threads—all without switching apps and losing context.

Why is team collaboration important?

Strong collaboration within a team is crucial for several reasons besides the fact that it plays a fundamental role in the functioning of any organization. Here are a few reasons:

Increased efficiency and productivity

When you're assigned to a task and need help with a specific part, you can pull a colleague into the conversation, live chat with them, and get your answers. This reduces a duplication of efforts and prevents the need for you to reinvent the wheel, allowing you to do more in less time. Now, with Zoho TeamInbox, you don't have to leave your inbox to collaborate with your team—making everything easier.

Better decision-making

Important decisions should be made together as a team. Collaborative decision-making allows for a broader range of perspectives to be considered, letting you make well-informed decisions. With Zoho TeamInbox, you can keep these discussions right next to the thread, maintain the context of your conversations, and sort them under specific topics, making them trackable in the future.

Skill sharing

When you’re working as part of a team, it’s important for the members to share ideas and help each other with their own expertise. This will benefit both the individuals and the organization by immediately solving the problem at hand and facilitating continuous learning and development. The Discussions feature in Zoho TeamInbox allows you to brainstorm topics with your team.

User scenario

Let's look at the user journey of a five-member marketing team. When a new email is received, any member of the team (which could be whoever is available at the moment) can read through the email and delegate it to the proper member responsible. Here’s how the team collaborates over an incoming email.

 

Receive the email

The marketing team receives a request to create social media buzz about a new product launch.

Our shared inboxes let you keep your emails organized, right where they should be. Having an inbox visible and accessible to everyone on a team builds a transparent work environment, making collaboration easier. You no longer have to forward emails, use the CC or BCC to discuss emails, and you can get rid of confusing and baseless threads for good.

 

Assign the email

The email is assigned to Mark, the digital marketer of the team.

Delegate emails to the right owner and make sure nothing is ignored. When the team knows who’s working on a task, they’ll know who to go to right away to discuss a specific topic. Delegation also ensures that each team member is accountable.

 

Discuss with the team

Mark brainstorms his work plan with the team.

Collaborate synchronously right from your inbox. Use the comments section next to every thread for discussion instead of forwarding the email. Use the @mention to get the attention of a specific teammate. Conducting discussions alongside the thread helps maintain context, which can be used as reference in the future. You can also share files here.

 

Schedule a meeting with the team

To finalize his work plan, Mark schedules a meeting with the team.

Zoho TeamInbox connects your inbox with various other important applications. When your discussions demand more than just chatting, schedule a meeting with Zoho Meeting or meet right then, all without leaving your thread.

 

Share the email draft with the team

After finalizing his work plan, Mark drafts an email and shares it with Amy, his manager, for approval.

Co-author emails with your teammates. Share drafts with peers for their input and edits to ensure that you always send out accurate responses. This lets you collaborate over your drafts without having to forward them or switch to another application.

 

Send out the response

Once Amy approves the copy, Mark sends out the reply email.

You can choose the Send and Archive option to archive the conversation after the reply is sent. Every activity the team performed, from receiving the email to sending out the response, is recorded and listed in the thread as an activity timeline. This will help the team keep track of who performed a specific activity.

Wrapping up

With Zoho TeamInbox, you don't have to work in silos anymore. Sharing your processes and updates with your teammates is now easy and hassle-free.