Real-Life Lessons for Municipalities and Businesses
Stop Using Personal Email Addresses for Business—Here’s Why
When it comes to running a municipality or business, having consistent communication is critical. Yet, time and time again, we’ve seen organizations suffer costly disruptions because they relied on personal email addresses instead of official, organization-controlled email accounts. Below, we’ll explore real-life scenarios (with names changed) that highlight why it’s time to make the switch.
Case Study 1: An Advertising Nightmare
One of our clients recently launched a Google Ads campaign to grow their customer base. Google Ads can be a great way to target an audience and increase leads. Instead of setting up the account under a company-owned email address, one of their employees insisted on using their personal Gmail address to manage the ads. The employee thought this made perfect sense because this was a Gmail address and that’s what they needed to control the Google Ads account. At first blush, everything seemed fine—until that employee leaves the company.
When staff members leave, the company is locked out of their ad account. Accessing the campaigns requires contacting Google support, proving ownership, and facing delays. We’ve had clients whose ads accounts were shut down during this ownership proving nightmare. This means any future ad strategies are on hold, and customer acquisition is disrupted.
Lesson Learned: Always use an email address tied to your domain (e.g., marketing@yourcompanydomain.com) for critical accounts like Google Ads, website logins, and payment systems. If you need a Google address, you can set up a branded google address from which to manage your company Google products. But there are lots of features to take advantage of if you set up a Google Workspace.
Case Study 2: Borough Billing Blunders
Many boroughs face staff turnover. When new employees take over billing or administrative tasks, they sometimes inherit a job with an email address tied to previous staff members’ personal account. The problem? Those emails don’t get forwarded, and bills go unpaid.
In one instance, a borough fell months behind on payments for website hosting because their new administrator didn’t receive invoices. By the time they realized the oversight, their site was at risk of being suspended. The borough was understandably upset, but the root cause was their reliance on personal email addresses rather than an official, role-based email like admin@boroughname.gov.
Lesson Learned: Boroughs should use generic, role-based email addresses such as info@boroughname.gov or billing@boroughname.gov. Alternatively, use name-based emails that are under borough control: jennifer@boroughname.gov or abby@boroughname.gov. These can be easily redirected to new staff members, ensuring continuity during transitions.
Why Role-Based Emails Matter
- Continuity During Turnover: Staff changes are inevitable. Role-based, business-controlled emails allow for seamless transitions without missed communications.
- Security and Ownership: Official accounts are owned by the organization, not the individual, protecting sensitive data.
- Professionalism and Trust: Using organization-branded emails increases credibility.
- Compliance and Recordkeeping: Maintaining proper records for audits, legal purposes, and future reference is much easier. As such, any emails that meet the definition of “record” under the Open Records Act, even if stored on the Supervisors’ personal computers or in their personal email accounts, may be records of the municipality. This may open up your entire personal inbox to your employer to find any public recordkeeping emails they wish to find.
Need more information? Here is a link to the Sunshine Act’s FAQ page. Here is a link to PA’s Right to Know Law FAQ page.
The Fix: Steps to Transition Today
- Audit Current Accounts: Identify where personal emails are being used and transition them to organization-controlled addresses.
- Implement Role-Based Addresses: Create addresses such as info@, billing@, and admin@ to cover common needs.
- Update External Accounts: Ensure all critical accounts (Google Ads, website logins, etc.) are updated with the new emails.
- Train Staff: Educate employees about the risks of using personal emails and the importance of maintaining organizational accounts.
- Backup Old Accounts: Forward old personal email accounts to new official addresses until the transition is complete.
CourseVector no longer provides email services. But we do have a few recommendations if you need branded, company- or borough-controlled email. If you don’t have in-house IT, and you’re based in PA, there are great local IT companies who are willing to help you with email setup as well. Eagle Secure Solutions, based out of Lebanon, PA, provides remote, in-house, or on-site IT services depending on your location.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re managing a municipality or running a business, the risks of using personal email addresses for official tasks are simply too high. From billing issues to account lockouts, these real-life scenarios underscore the importance of taking control of your communications.
There are also risks of using business email for personal tasks.
Don’t wait until it’s too late—secure your email strategy today and save yourself from tomorrow’s headaches.
