Email has long been the default tool for getting things done in the London insurance market.
- Need approval? Send an email.
- Need to share a document? Attach it to an email.
- Need an update? Reply to the chain.
It’s quick. It’s familiar. And it’s easy to get something off your desk.
But while email is convenient, it was never designed to manage operational workflows. When it becomes the centre of your processes, it creates inefficiencies, risks, and hidden costs that build over time.
The ‘Reply All’ Workflow
A common pattern appears in many organisations:
- Someone sends an email with an attachment.
- Several people are copied in.
- The conversation continues through replies and reply-alls.
- New versions of documents are attached along the way.
Before long, the process exists across dozens of messages in a chain.
Each participant might be working from a slightly different version of the document, and no one can be entirely sure which one is the latest.
The result is confusion, delays, compliance and audit issues and more.
The Version Control Problem
Email attachments are one of the biggest contributors to version chaos.
Every time a document is attached to an email, a new copy is created. When edits are made and circulated again, more versions appear.
Later, when someone needs to review the history of a risk or claim, they may face:
- Multiple versions of the same document
- Long email threads to search through
- Uncertainty about which version is correct
This makes auditing difficult and slows down decision-making. A proper system, by contrast, provides one authoritative version that everyone can access.
Email Creates Operational Risk
Beyond inefficiency, relying on email also introduces real risk:
- Security risks – Attachments can easily be sent to the wrong recipient.
- Storage problems – Large attachments often fail to send or require multiple emails to deliver.
- Loss of information – Key documents may sit in individual inboxes rather than a shared system. If someone leaves the business or deletes emails, that information can be difficult to recover.
In regulated environments like insurance, these risks matter.
The Illusion of Control
Email also creates a subtle behavioural issue: it becomes a to-do list.
Many people treat their inbox as their task management system. But inboxes prioritise incoming noise, rather than actual priorities.
This leads to reactive working – constantly responding to messages rather than progressing tasks in a structured way.
A workflow system allows tasks to be prioritised and tracked properly.
Even Platforms Are Sometimes Used the Wrong Way
Many insurance platforms aim to create a shared environment for information.
But a common pattern still occurs:
- A document is uploaded to a platform
- Someone downloads it
- Then emails it to others as an attachment
In effect, the platform becomes a staging point for the same old email process.
The real value comes when people share links instead of attachments, allowing everyone to access the same document directly.
What the Ideal Looks Like
In a well-structured process:
- The broker, insurer, and client can all see the status of a risk or claim
- Documents are stored once, with clear version control
- Updates happen in the system rather than scattered across email chains
- Email still has a role – but as a notification tool, not the workflow itself.
When organisations move from email-driven processes to system-based workflows, they gain:
- Clear audit trails
- Reduced operational risk
- Faster collaboration
- Better visibility across teams
And perhaps most importantly, they spend less time searching through inboxes trying to reconstruct what happened!
inFOCUS from gpm
This is exactly what gpm are working on behind the scenes with inFOCUS – building software that helps brokers move beyond email-driven processes onto a human first platform, to help brokers focus on what matters. Not the admin.
If you’d like to find out more about inFOCUS from gpm, please get in touch to find out more about our Beta Programme.