The Changing Face Of Communication At The Workplace
Research by DataMonitor/ Dimension Data reveals that e-mail is the preffered mediumof communication over telephones, with 100% of the end-users surveyed using e-mail, followed by fixed-line telephony (80%), mobile telephony (76%) and instant messaging (66%).
But, says Rob Lopez, managing director of solutions at Dimension Data, the increase in e-mail usage is widening the personal communication other words, people would rather e-mail than speak to each other on the telephone. “This raises questions about how effective and meaningful e-mail communication is when dealing with problem resolution and discussing complex issues. Also, e-mail communication can be considered less secure. This could have a negative impact on productivity as end-users struggle to deal with growing volumes of emails.”
Interestingly, the research points out, the three most ubiquitous technologies increase productivity the most. Over 70% of the end-users surveyed say e-mail impacts positively on their productivity, followed by conventional fixed-line telephony (53%) and mobile telephony (52%).
From a productivity point-of-view, the research shows that instant messaging, blogs and softphones are considered most disruptive, and could negatively impact productivity if not managed properly.
The research surveyed 390 IT managers and 524 enterprise users across 13 countries in the United States, Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Read the press release [pdf]
Filed under: Digital culture