I'm seeking insights from our community on an important policy question that balances business transparency with employee privacy.
Current State: Smackdab email currently provides visibility only to the email owner, unless a message has been explicitly set to public.
The Request: We've received a request that administrators should have the right to view emails from company-owned domain accounts (such as [email protected], but not [email protected]) that are linked to Entity records (Contacts, Companies, Deals) in Smackdab.
Important Limitations to Protect Privacy:
The company domain ownership must be established first with domain verification.
Only accounts that belong to the verified domains would be subject to this option
This would NOT apply to unlinked emails, meaning email that are not associated with CRM records.
This would NOT grant any access to email inboxes
Only emails already connected to business records would be visible, and only through the timeline of the linked record
Personal email domains (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) would remain private
Proposed Solution: Allow Smackdab account owners/managers to enable this feature as an optional setting with these requirements:
Domain Verification Required: Each domain must be verified through our domain verification system to prove ownership.
Explicit consent required: Each person adding their company email account must first consent to this visibility policy
Clear consequences: Those who don't consent would have their account removed or not authorized to sync
Implementation Questions:
Should consent be revocable, and if so, what happens to existing linked emails?
Should we offer tiered access levels (summary view vs. full content)?
Feedback Needed: Please share your thoughts from both perspectives:
As employees: What are your privacy concerns and suggestions?
As owners/managers: How would this help your business operations?
What concerns, suggestions, or alternative approaches would you recommend for balancing administrative oversight with employee privacy?