AI-powered automatic email triage

What is email triage?

Email triage is the process of sorting and prioritising your inbox, separating important messages from less urgent ones. 

‍Statista reports that 347.3 billion emails were sent daily in 2023, and these numbers are expected to grow yearly. A high volume of emails disrupts the flow of information, leading to inefficiencies and delays in decision-making. 

Email triage software improves team productivity by reducing the time spent navigating cluttered shared inboxes, enabling employees to focus on tasks that directly contribute to business goals. It also provides clarity in communication and ensures that essential emails receive the attention they deserve, ultimately leading to improved stakeholder and customer satisfaction and a more agile response to market demands.

Why use AI for email triage?

Artificial intelligence (AI) automates repetitive tasks like categorising and organising emails and filtering out low-priority messages within your email inboxes. This automated approach frees up valuable time to focus on strategic decisions rather than endless sorting. Case in point: Viterra, a global agricultural leader, achieved a 99% reduction in manual filing and a 95% decrease in email volume using Sedna's AI email triage software.

Leveraging AI for email triage also enables:
‍Personalised prioritisation: Email triage AI learns your communication patterns and priorities, ensuring critical messages, such as urgent shipment updates or supplier alerts, rise to the top of your inbox, regardless of the sender or subject line.
‍Contextual understanding: AI analyses email content to understand context and sentiment. This insight allows prioritisation based on keywords and the urgency conveyed in the message itself.
‍Actionable insights: Advanced AI systems even suggest potential actions based on the content of an email. For instance, consider an automated email notifying you about a delayed shipment and a suggested reply to the supplier. The pre-written response saves time crafting a new message and ensures faster resolution.

How does AI email triage work?

AI email triage employs machine learning algorithms and natural language processing (NLP) to analyse the content of incoming emails. 
‍
Here's a breakdown of the key functionalities that power this technology:
‍Natural language processing (NLP): This branch of AI allows the system to understand the context and intent behind emails. For example, if the subject reads "Request for Quote (RFQ) - Refrigeration Units," NLP interprets the purpose of the email (obtaining a quote) and the specific product category (refrigeration units). The email management tool can then route messages accordingly.
‍Entity recognition: AI identifies and categorises specific entities within an email, such as order numbers, product names, and shipment dates. For example, directing an email regarding a delayed customs clearance to the import specialist.
‍Machine learning (ML): AI email triage systems continuously adapt based on past interactions. Over time, it learns to recognise patterns and identify emails requiring immediate attention. 
‍Integration with supply chain management systems (SCMS): Advanced AI email management solutions integrate seamlessly with your existing SCMS to pull in additional contexts, such as existing purchase orders or inventory levels, to prioritise and manage emails and suggest potential solutions. For instance, upon receiving a stock shortage email, the system pulls data from your SCMS, identifies alternative suppliers, or suggests expediting existing orders.

How an AI email triage system helps improve supply chain productivity

With an AI email triage system, you achieve:

1. Faster responses 

AI prioritises critical emails related to your supply chain – supplier issues, shipment updates, purchase order confirmations – so you respond quickly and keep things moving. This prioritisation ensures that your team receives the vital information needed to make informed decisions and take immediate action, preventing delays, improving response times, and guaranteeing on-time order fulfilment.

2. Fewer delays

AI email triage software like Sedna AI flags potential issues hidden within emails, such as delays at customs or port congestion.  This feature allows you to address these issues before they snowball into delays, disrupting production schedules or deliveries.

3. Smoother team collaboration

Imagine emails automatically routed to the right people within your supply chain network. AI handles the legwork, ensuring internal team members (procurement, logistics, etc.) and external partners (suppliers, distributors)  have the information they need when they need it. With faster access to information, your team makes informed decisions, minimises delays and ensures a more agile response to unexpected disruptions.

5. Proactive risk management  

Manual data entry from emails is prone to human error. AI extracts critical data points from emails and populates them directly into your SCMS, eliminating the risk of typos or missed information. AI also learns to identify emails indicating potential issues, like customs delays or supplier quality problems. By proactively surfacing these risks, your team takes early action to mitigate them, preventing costly disruptions and ensuring on-time deliveries.

Email triage tips and best practices

Here are our top email triage tips and best practices to help you manage your overflowing inbox effectively:

1. Prioritise emails by urgency and relevance

Employ the "Four Ds" method to prioritise your emails effectively:
1. Delete
2. Do
3. Delegate
4. Defer 
For example, you may acknowledge an email from a supplier confirming a shipment (Do), while you may need to schedule time to thoughtfully respond to a request for a complex quote (Defer). Delegate emails not directly relevant to your role or current priorities to the appropriate colleague or delete them to keep your inbox focused.

2. Use advanced email sorting and filtering

Create filters to tag supplier or customer emails automatically or to highlight emails containing critical keywords such as "urgent", "invoice," or "delivery schedule." This categorisation helps identify emails that require immediate attention.

‍Sedna’s AI-powered email triage software, Stream, offers advanced sorting and filtering capabilities that automate part of the triage process. In fact, Norden, a leading freight forwarding and logistics company, achieved a 50% reduction in email volume after implementing Stream.

3. Leverage the power of labels and folders

Implement a robust email filing system using a combination of labels and folders. Categorise incoming messages based on urgency, project, client, or department. For example, create a dedicated folder for "Urgent: Shipment Delays" to ensure prompt attention to these critical issues. 

4. Schedule dedicated email triage sessions

Schedule specific times of the day for email management depending on your workday. This practice ensures you focus on high-priority tasks without constant distractions from incoming emails. During these sessions, apply the triage process systematically, deciding on the next steps for each email.

Consider creating an email triage workflow for canned responses for frequently asked questions or routine updates to save valuable time. You could even customise these pre-written templates for specific situations for quick communication.