I find that important emails can get buried within Outlook - so much can come in. Here's how I handle it. I work with Act 2009 (I just found Outlook's Business Contact Manager inadequate). My clients and contacts are in Act. Important email from clients requiring action gets linked to their record in Act as a "To Do" activity where I can set the deadline, set reminder alarms, etc. It works quite well, it's a new procedure but I'm liking it.

I've tried to get clients interested in using something like My Client Spot but they seem to prefer email. If I did get enough clients interested in a collaboration tool, I'd probably invest in a SharePoint hosting, but people seem to find email suits their communication needs.

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Julia