Convert · Turn enquiries into customers
A shared team inbox in Outlook where every email has an owner
Shared inboxes that stay tidy, assigned and answered.
We reply within one working day. No obligation.
Why shared inboxes go wrong
A shared email inbox is meant to make sure customers get an answer. In practice it often does the opposite.
- 01Three people read the same email and each assumes someone else replied.
- 02Sometimes two replies go out. More often none do.
- 03Urgent enquiries sit behind supplier invoices, newsletters and delivery notices.
- 04Flags and folders mean different things to different people.
- 05Nobody knows how long customers are waiting for an answer.
- 06Moving to a new helpdesk tool can fix this, but it means new logins, new habits and another subscription. Plenty of small teams would rather fix the shared mailbox they already have.
Next step
We reply within one working day. No obligation.
What the Shared Mailbox Assistant does
Sorts every email
New emails are categorised as they arrive: new enquiry, existing customer, supplier, invoice, complaint or junk. It uses Outlook categories, so everyone sees the same labels.
Gives each email an owner
Rules you agree decide who picks up what, by type, area or workload. The owner gets a notification in Outlook or Microsoft Teams, and everyone else can see it is taken.
Drafts the reply
For routine emails it writes a draft reply using your templates and approved information, and saves it for the owner to check, edit and send. Nothing goes out on its own unless you decide that simple acknowledgements can.
Flags what is waiting
If an email has not been answered within the time you set, the owner and a manager are told. A short daily summary shows what is still open.
Pulls out the details
Names, phone numbers, order references and addresses are picked out and logged to your CRM or a Microsoft 365 list, so nobody retypes them.
A shared email inbox workflow your team will follow
We agree a simple set of states with you, typically New, Assigned, Waiting on customer and Done, and the assistant keeps them up to date in Outlook. Shared inbox management becomes something you can see at a glance rather than something one person holds in their head.
Stay in Outlook or move to a helpdesk?
If you handle hundreds of support tickets a day, a dedicated helpdesk may be the right answer, and we will tell you. For most small businesses with a few shared mailboxes, keeping the team inbox in Outlook is simpler to run and far easier to get people to use.
Next step
We reply within one working day. No obligation.
AI email management with a person pressing send
The AI reads, sorts and drafts. Your people decide what is sent. Drafts are grounded in the templates and information you approve, sensitive emails such as complaints are routed to a named person without a draft, and every action is visible in the mailbox.
Shared Mailbox Assistant, AI Front Desk or AI Enquiry Manager?
Shared Mailbox Assistant: makes your Outlook team inbox work for the people answering it. This page.
AI Front Desk: replies to new enquiries straight away, before a person picks them up.
AI Enquiry Manager: one view of enquiries across every channel, not only email.
What you get
A review of your shared mailboxes, who uses them and what arrives in them.
Agreed categories, owners and response targets for each type of email.
The assistant configured on your chosen mailboxes, with draft replies built from your templates.
Alerts and a daily summary in Outlook or Teams.
Details logged to your CRM or a Microsoft 365 list.
A walkthrough for your team and short written guidance on the new workflow.
What it is built with
Exchange Online shared mailboxes and Outlook categories, Power Automate for the rules and alerts, Microsoft Teams for notifications, and Copilot Studio or Azure OpenAI to read emails and write drafts, with templates stored in SharePoint.
Shared mailboxes only work well when permissions are right. If yours have grown without a plan, the free Microsoft 365 assessment is a sensible place to start.
How we set it up
- 01
Understand
We look at what arrives in each shared mailbox and how your team handles it now.
- 02
Assess
We agree categories, owners, response targets and which emails get a draft reply.
- 03
Improve
We build the assistant, test it on real emails and switch it on mailbox by mailbox.
- 04
Support
We check the sorting and drafts with you in the early weeks and adjust. Ongoing support is available if you want it.
What it looks like in practice
Illustrative example, not a client result: a lettings agency runs everything through info@. Tenant repair requests, landlord questions and new applicant enquiries all land together. With the assistant, repairs go to the property manager with the address and issue pulled out, applicant enquiries go to lettings with a draft reply ready, and anything left waiting past lunchtime shows up in the team channel.
FAQs
Common questions
Do we have to change our email system?
No. It works on Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes in Outlook. Your team keeps working the way they do now, with the sorting, owners and drafts added.
Does it send replies automatically?
Only if you want it to, and only for messages you choose, such as a simple acknowledgement. By default it writes drafts for a person to check and send.
Is this the same as Copilot in Outlook?
No. Copilot helps an individual summarise and draft in Outlook. The Shared Mailbox Assistant applies your team's rules to the shared mailbox itself: sorting, assigning and chasing. If you are rolling out Copilot as well, see AI and Copilot adoption.
Can it handle several shared mailboxes?
Yes. Each mailbox can have its own categories, owners and response targets.
What happens to our data?
It uses Microsoft services under your existing Microsoft agreement, and we document what data is read, where it goes and who can see it as part of the setup.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the number of mailboxes, the volume of email and what it connects to. We scope it after the consultation and give you a clear proposal before any work starts.
Tell us what is not working
You don't need a fully defined project before you talk to us. We reply within one working day.