Innovation |

Skimbox Tames the Email Overload Epidemic for iPhone Users

Skimbox. (PRNewsFoto/Skimbox)
Skimbox. (PRNewsFoto/Skimbox)
New iOS email app employs machine learning technology to separate the important emails from the skimmable ones; supports Gmail and Microsoft Exchange WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Skimbox, a new iOS email client for both Gmail and Microsoft Exchange, today announced it is officially available on Apple’s App Store. Skimbox eliminates the problem of email overload by using advanced machine learning technology to securely and automatically filter email into two easily viewable tabs: “Mainbox” for important messages that need to be acted upon quickly, and “Skimbox” for those that can be saved for a later date.

Email overload has roots nearly as old as email itself. The initial problem came in the form of spam, which has largely been obviated by anti-spam technology. However, a new form of email overload is far more difficult to solve in today’s world of communication: superfluous legitimate messages. Consumers and businesspeople alike are forced to spend countless hours each week sorting through “graymail” in the form of social media alerts, newsletters, product offers and more. This wastes time and greatly increases the likelihood of missing important emails. In particular, for those employed in the finance, legal and sales sectors, a single missed email can have dire consequences. Adding to that, independent studies from both the McKinsey Global Institute and Basex show that professionals typically spend more than a quarter of their workweek processing email, at an annual cost Basex estimates to be approximately $997 billion.

Skimbox solves these problems and offers numerous benefits, including:

  • Pre-sorted emails – Skimbox automatically sorts mail into two distinct categories, putting critical messages into the “Mainbox” and less important messages into the “Skimbox.” In doing so, Skimbox minimizes the chance of users missing important emails, and significantly decreases the time it takes to scan and “process” email.
  • Increased productivity – Employees no longer have to spend significant time wading through emails, allowing them to instead concentrate on higher-value activities, with fewer distractions.
  • Intelligent automation – Skimbox uses state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, coupled with users’ social graphs and keyword cues, to automatically prioritize emails, improving the more it is used.
  • Enhanced security – Skimbox uses advanced encryption technology to ensure the security of users’ emails.

    “One of the failings of email is the needle in the haystack scenario if you don’t have the technology to filter out what’s important and what can wait to be read,” said Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research. “Our research finds that in an average year, one person will send and receive more than 23,000 emails. The barrage of emails to sort through is mounting and people are wasting precious time during their day trying to stay up-to-date. Having a solution like Skimbox will allow employees to easily and securely view those significant emails they need to read, while saving the ‘nice to have’ ones for later.”
    “The problem of email overload is serious and growing every day,” said David Wihl, CEO of Skimbox. “It isn’t just an inconvenience – it’s a problem with a real cost. Particularly for professionals, missing an important message or losing a third of your workday to deal with email comes with a very high price tag. Pre-sorting is just the beginning of what’s possible when applying machine learning technology to help users. Skimbox learns the more it is used.”

    Skimbox/PRNewswire

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