Confluence Screenshot tour
Solutions – Reducing Email
Email was meant for communication, not collaboration.
Why collaborate in Confluence instead of via email?
Many companies overuse email for purposes to which it's not well suited, such as in-depth discussions or developing collaborative documents. This can cause people to:
- suffer from email overload
- waste time trying to find the latest correspondence
- use an outdated version of an email attachment (e.g. a PowerPoint presentation or Word document)
- miss out on half the discussion because someone forgot to click 'CC:' or 'Reply to all'
- bog down other people's inboxes with large attachments
- lose the email thread because someone changed the Subject line
Collaborate in Confluence
Confluence is an enterprise wiki that provides secure online workspaces where conversations can develop and content can be collaboratively polished.
Capture the thread
Instead of emailing the masses to ask a question or make an announcement, blog it in Confluence. Like any other wiki page, people can respond by commenting on the blog.
When discussions take place in Confluence, the entire conversation is permanently recorded and visible. Easily see at a glance, who said what, when, and in response to whom.
Case study
- [Confluence] is better than email, since I can keep on adding material. Other people can add comments and edit, and then summary pages such as our Work In Progress can link through to it.
- Ben Still, Red Ant
A single location
Rather than trying to edit a document via email, put it in Confluence. Secure online workspaces hold documents in one location, providing a home where the latest versions, and all their drafts, are kept. This guarantees that everyone is reviewing and editing the most current version.
With Confluence's flexible, fine-grained security, all the appropriate people can access and contribute to the document.
Case study
- Having one place where everybody with the appropriate permission level can access, use and contribute really serves as a model for asynchronous communications — that really helps with companies in different time zones. The search is easy and powerful, so it was very easy to sort through the presentations and people don't waste time. And that really is a bonus with the communications process too because otherwise they would just be wasting time writing emails, saying 'Where's your old presentation? Please send them to me.'
- Mingyi Liu, GPC Biotech
The best of both worlds
Email has its place. Some communications will always be sent via email — and you need a way to keep track of them.
That's why Confluence also serves as a mail archive, providing a permanent, always-available record. And once it's in Confluence, email is fully searchable — including the full text of attachments.
Usage example
Sue is seeking quotes from external vendors. She sends initial emails to five companies and CC: her Confluence workspace to automatically capture their discussions.