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Aspasia Cloud Informational Series – Key Chapter Email takes centre stage


EVEN THE most traditionally minded amongst us cannot have failed to notice the wholesale migration of correspondence from paper and ink based materials to electronic mail. Email, whilst starting off in a very informal and casual way, has now become the preferred method of recordable communication for most of us, most of the time. Even very traditional organisations such as the utility companies, whose size and outlook normally dictate a conventional approach, are now encouraging us to communicate with them electronically for the majority of customer service type enquiries. And, of course, going green and helping to conserve the environment by not producing reams of unnecessary paper helps us all. Whatever our personal feelings about this


migration it is irreversible and will become more and more the norm as time goes by. And it is easy to see why – email is free, immediate, convenient, arguably more reliable (when used properly) and infinitely more flexible in that it can be easily copied, forwarded and propagated at will. The last bastion of the printed word in the context of everyday individual communication is probably currently in the area of formality and perceived legality although even here the walls are gradually being eroded. For example, in our own case, all our customer licence agreements are distributed and signed electronically just as they are nowadays for large organisations such as BT and many others.


email v PRiNT It is no surprise therefore, that when creating a


totally new software solution for today’s and tomorrow’s generations of customers for estate and lettings agents we raised the prominence and importance of email relative to the printed word on paper. Naturally you can still create a paper document within Aspasia Cloud just as you can do now but it is not what you may want to do as much in the future. Why would you when your competitors are conducting their business with the immediacy, convenience and cost benefits associated with electronic mail? Of course there is the question of image and presentability to be considered and overcome in the context of perceived customer acceptability


ensure there was an automatic two way audit trail of email correspondence and extra resilience and convenience by duplicating the email content within Aspasia Cloud’s Oracle database. By so doing we can ensure our agents always have at their disposal indisputable evidence and a complete record of all correspondence both to and from their customers or other trading partners at all times without their needing to do anything whatsoever themselves. If you are constantly having to cut and paste correspondence from your email system into your property software solution now you will know what we mean. By utilising Google’s Postini email system


but this can be resolved with a little effort and discipline – far more easily than the historic battles to try and get documents printed in a consistent quality across various printers. Emails also offer many advantages over paper documents and are not the relatively simple and basic things they were even a short time ago. Apart from being able to display still and animated graphics, they can contain (or have links to) other media opportunities such as video or web sites that can help customers derive more information or increasingly let them do things for themselves at their own convenience. This latter opportunity is being extensively developed within Aspasia Cloud although it is fair to point out that there are more opportunities to do so in the field of lettings and property management than within residential sales. Email is also a hands down winner when it comes to collaboration and the sharing of information which is exemplified within Google Apps, the topic of last month’s article. So, in engineering a brand new cloud based software product for the future, we needed to choose the best web orientated email system available and then to integrate it at a core level into the very fabric of Aspasia Cloud. Moreover, again respecting the raised importance and prominence of email in the future, we needed to


Aspasia Cloud is the first fully integrated cloud technology software solution for agents involved with residential sales, lettings and property management. This informational series has been designed to explain how the software differs from other solutions and what that means for agents who use it.


For further information and to read previous articles in the series, please go to www.aspasia.net.


PROPERTYdrum FEBRUARY 2012 19


available within the business version of Google Apps we are also able to offer any customer the ability to control how email is used within their own organisation to the highest professional level available. Our customers will have the choice to decide on whatever level of involvement they wish in terms of controlling aspects of email management such as filtering, spam and virus management, security or accessibility. For most agents the default settings will be more than adequate for their needs but in instances where a higher level of granularity is required this can be comprehensively achieved.


veRsaTiliTy aNd PeRmaNeNce Electronic mail has now evolved into being the


most popular means we have today to communicate individually with others in a non- verbal format and of course it has the huge advantage of permanence – just like letters it leaves an auditable trail which can be referred to later. But unlike letters in can be investigated, supplemented, modified, replicated and distributed with ease and at zero cost always leaving an automatic permanent trail in its wake. Little wonder therefore that the time has come to raise its profile and give it the fully integrated and core role it deserves within any new software solution like Aspasia Cloud. Getting these basic aspects of communication right is as important as the specific professional elements contained within a software solution for agents involved in residential sales, lettings and property management.


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