Founded in 1889, TORM is a well established Copenhagen-based shipping company that owns and operates tankers and bulk carriers all around the world. The company’s tankers carry refined oil products and dry cargo.
Throughout the last 126 years, the company has been operating a large and modern fleet, and today the company owns around 100 ships. To date, TORM has connected millions of cargo with ships – a connection that can only happen through email. Since 2013, TORM has used MARK5 for email management.
Unstructured High Volume Email Flow
TORM, like any other shipping company, depends heavily on email and handles thousands of incoming and outgoing emails every day. This means that their email system is business-critical and crucial to their daily workflow.
The team previously used the IBM Notes system, but due to the high volume of emails they receive every day in a number of departments, the IBM Notes mailboxes reached their max size of 64gb every other month. To solve these storage issues, TORM attempted to develop a customized version of IBM Notes to fit their needs, but unfortunately, this caused further frustration. The system lacked support, and corrupted emails occurred due to poor coding, causing TORM to acknowledge they needed a new system to handle the high volume of emails.
Due to their issues with IBM Notes, TORM formed a group project to find a business email solution. Microsoft Exchange was an option, but TORM recognized that this platform was not suitable for high volume email. It was at this point that TORM decided to look for a product that would not only be able to handle high volume emails, but also one that was capable of automating the flow.
Upon discovering MARK5, TORM decided to move forward with a test installation, and the rest is history. TORM has used MARK5 ever since.
The next step was to get all TORM users on board (no pun intended). To make sure these users had a great first impression of the new email system, and to ensure maximal return on investment, the implementation was carefully planned between Nordic IT and TORM.
First, ‘Super Users’ were chosen. They received special training where they received advice and suggestions on how to improve their daily email workflow.
“The implementation strategy at TORM was a procedure we use for all bigger projects. From our experience, this is a well-tested procedure of best practice combined with strict project management that ensures the customer’s migration to the system is a success,” says Casper Thalund, Head of Projects at Nordic IT. Stefan Shuller agrees, “this part with the Super Users has worked very well.”
After all Super Users were fully migrated on to the new email system, the remaining End Users at TORM needed to be migrated to the platform as seamlessly as possible, “We had Nordic IT trainers on-site around the globe,” says Vikas Shah, Head of IT Asia at TORM. This, combined with two days of hyper-care with Nordic IT present on the floor during work hours, made sure users quickly became comfortable with MARK5 and started reaping the benefits of the email system right away.
The system’s primary task at TORM was to solve their problem with high-volume and unstructured email control. Because the IBM Notes mailboxes had reached their max size, they slowed down and triggered a manual archiving process performed by team members that cost the company a lot of man-hours.
Migrating to MARK5 stopped the manual filtering completely, “Before, users had to drag and drop emails to folders and everybody was doing everything by hand. With the implementation of MARK5, it is 99% automated. Emails automatically go to the right folder, and people only have to look in their own vessel folder where they get the correct emails. They only get to see the information they need to see because of the smart set up,” Vikas Shah explains.
The result? TORM streamlined their email flow processes and team members can work much more efficiently without wasting time on manual filing, “Our Tanker Operations department claim they save 1+ hour per operator per day. Which is a very good result,” says Stefan Shuller. So after having implemented the system, TORM has not only solved their problem managing high volume email, their users also get a tool that keeps them focused on actual business, saving them hours every day.
This feature is very popular at TORM - users can assign tasks to others by adding emails and notes to their work tray. This feature allows users to enjoy their vacations without being disturbed - they will see their tasks in the work tray immediately when they open the system.
TORM users like that they can see the complete history of an email. At a glance, users can view actions to see who has read, filed, replied and answered. That way, users are always up to date and do not have to work on something a colleague has already done.
At TORM, the search functionality is a user favorite. In the shipping industry, there is a lot of email history that you need to catch up on fast. The speed of MARK5 gives users a competitive edge.
Another feature that TORM users love is the mobile app. TORM did not have this in the IBM Notes environment, but with MARK5, users can access their email through mobile devices, which makes it easier for users to work on the go even in a shared environment and through department email addresses.
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