Shared inbox automation
Our team works out of a shared inbox. Can AI sort the emails, update the CRM and draft replies?
Last updated
Yes. AI can read every email in a shared inbox, classify it by type and urgency, pull out account, order or job numbers, look up the customer in your CRM or ERP, and create or update the case. It then drafts a reply in your tone for a person to approve, routes it to the right branch, and flags complaints for a person.
Who this is for
This page is for customer service, operations and accounts managers, CRM administrators and IT leads in multi-site organisations such as field services, wholesale and distribution, logistics, construction and professional services. The inbox is usually a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox such as service@, orders@ or accounts@. Customer records sit in Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365, and orders, jobs and invoices in Business Central, NetSuite, Pronto Xi, simPRO or Uptick.
Solve8 works with teams in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and across Australia and New Zealand, with workshops on site. Each phase below has a fixed fee, and you can stop after any phase and keep the work.
How AI works through a shared inbox
Classify
Each new email is labelled by type, such as order status, booking, invoice query, new enquiry or complaint, and by urgency.
Extract
AI pulls out the account, order, purchase order, job or invoice number, site address and dates.
Look up
It finds the customer in the CRM or ERP and reads open orders, jobs, invoices and previous cases, with read-only access.
Prepare the record
It fills in the case, lead or job note with the email attached, ready for a person to confirm.
Draft the reply
A reply is drafted in your tone from the facts it looked up, such as the delivery date or technician booked, and saved as a draft.
Route
The email goes to the branch, team or person who owns that account or request type, with a note saying why.
Flag to a person
Complaints, cancellation threats, legal or safety matters and anything uncertain go straight to a person with no drafted answer.
Common email types and what AI does with each
| Email type | What the AI does | What a person does |
|---|---|---|
| Where is my order or technician? | Looks up the order or job and drafts a reply with the current status | Checks the draft and sends it |
| Booking or reschedule request | Finds the site and job in simPRO or Uptick and drafts options | Confirms the booking in the scheduling system |
| Invoice or statement query | Finds the invoice and balance in Business Central, NetSuite or Pronto Xi and drafts a reply with a copy attached | Approves the reply, or handles a dispute |
| New enquiry or quote request | Checks for an existing account and prepares a lead or opportunity in Salesforce or Dynamics 365 | Qualifies the lead and assigns an owner |
| Change of contact or site details | Prepares the update to the customer record | Approves the change before it is written |
| Complaint | Logs a case, marks it urgent and routes it to the account owner | Responds personally |
What to automate first
One inbox
Start with the shared mailbox that costs the most staff time, often customer service or orders.
The top three email types by volume
Count a few weeks of email by type. The top three are the place to start.
Lookups and drafts only
The first version classifies, looks up and drafts. It does not send email or write to the CRM or ERP.
Routing rules you already use
Write down how staff decide who owns an email today. Those rules become the routing logic.
Mailbox access and approval
Drafts, not sent mail
Replies are saved as drafts in the shared mailbox for a person to check and send. In Exchange Online the Mail.ReadWrite application role lets an app create drafts without permission to send mail.
Only the shared mailboxes it works on
RBAC for Applications in Exchange Online scopes the AI's mail access to named mailboxes. Remove any organisation-wide mail permission granted in Microsoft Entra ID, or the scope has no effect.
Record changes wait for approval
Case and record updates queue for a person to approve. Read-only access, write-back and audit logging for the CRM and ERP are covered in connecting AI to your CRM and ERP.
Customer data in emails
Emails carry names, addresses and account details, so the AI reads only the fields it needs and logs follow your retention rules under the Privacy Act.
How to measure it
| Measure | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| First response time | Time from an email arriving to the first reply sent |
| Hours of triage | Staff time spent reading, sorting and forwarding email each day |
| Misrouted emails | Emails forwarded on because they reached the wrong branch or person |
| Draft acceptance | Share of drafts sent with little or no editing, by email type |
| Record accuracy | Cases and records corrected after approval |
Phased approach
Discover
Pick one inbox at one site, count email by type for two to four weeks, and record first response time, triage hours and misrouted emails as the baseline.
Prove
Run the AI in shadow mode on live email beside the team, without sending or writing anything. Your team sets the accuracy bar.
Build
Connect it to the mailbox, CRM and ERP with approvals and logs, on your infrastructure in Australia.
Run or hand over
Solve8 supports it and adds inboxes and email types, or hands over the code, documentation and training.
Limits and when not to use AI
Low volume inboxes
If one person clears the inbox in under an hour a day, Outlook rules may be enough.
Duplicate customer records
Duplicate accounts in the CRM cause wrong lookups. Clean up the main duplicates before write-back.
Emails that need judgement
Disputes, credit decisions and sensitive complaints stay with people. The AI routes them with the account history.
Who should own it
Customer service or operations manager
Owns the inbox, email types, routing rules and reply tone.
CRM or application manager
Owns write-back and the AI's CRM and ERP permissions.
IT or Microsoft 365 administrator
Owns mailbox access, logging and retention.
Sources
Microsoft Learn, Use the Outlook mail REST API, Microsoft Graph v1.0: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/mail-api-overview
Microsoft Learn, Role Based Access Control for Applications in Exchange Online: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/permissions-exo/application-rbac
Microsoft Learn, Shared mailboxes: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/collaboration/shared-mailboxes/shared-mailboxes
Questions
Can AI send replies to customers without anyone checking them first?
It can, but it should not at the start. Replies are saved as drafts and a person checks and sends each one. Once draft acceptance has been measured for one email type, such as order status questions, the team can decide whether that type can go out with lighter review.
How does the AI work out which customer an email is from?
It matches the sender's email address and domain against contacts in the CRM, then checks any account, order, invoice or job number in the email against the CRM or ERP. If the match is uncertain, for example a new contact at an existing customer, the email goes to a person to confirm the account.
What happens to complaints and urgent emails in an AI-sorted inbox?
Complaints, cancellation threats, safety issues and legal matters are flagged and routed straight to a person, usually the account owner or team lead, without a drafted reply. The AI logs a case with the account history attached so the person can respond quickly.
Will AI drafted replies sound like our team or like a chatbot?
Drafts are written from your own approved past replies, templates and sign-offs. During shadow mode the team corrects drafts and those corrections adjust the style before any draft is sent.
Can one AI handle several shared inboxes across branches?
Yes, once the first inbox works. Each new inbox gets its own email types, routing rules and approvers, and the AI's mailbox access is extended to that inbox only, so accuracy stays measurable.
Related
- How do we connect AI to our CRM and ERP so it can read customer records and update orders safely?How to connect AI to Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Business Central or NetSuite: integration methods, permissions, audit logs, approvals and real-time routing.
- Customers email us PDF purchase orders and staff retype them into the ERP. Can AI do this reliably?How AI reads emailed PDF purchase orders, checks them against customer, item and price data, routes exceptions to a person, and writes orders to your ERP.
- AI agents for Australian organisations, built inside your systemsAn AI agent is software that reads incoming work, decides within your rules and acts across your systems. A person approves the result.
- Process automationLess retyping, chasing and manual checks.
- BrisbaneSolve8 is a Brisbane AI consultancy, founded in 2016 and based in Beenleigh, helping mid-sized to enterprise, multi-site Queensland organisations automate the work their best people do from memory.
Have this problem across your branches?
A 30-minute review with a senior consultant. You leave with a written one-page summary you can share internally.
Fixed-fee phases, agreed before we start. Stop after any phase.