Email more popular than phones

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Email has surpassed the telephone as the main method of communication in business as a result of the growth in easy-to-use and cheap to operate mobile email devices.

According to a survey of 390 IT managers and 524 enterprise IT users across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Africa commissioned by IT reseller Dimension Data, nearly all workers - some 99.6 per cent -use email as their primary means of keeping in touch with the office.

The research showed that 80 per cent use land lines regularly and 76 per cent rely on mobile phones. The results also showed instant messaging is currently used regularly by 66 per cent of workers.

Rob Lopez, managing director of solutions at Dimension Data said: "In today's corporate environment there are myriad communications tools available. However, our research indicates users prefer to communicate with electronic media rather than voice services such as telephony."

Over 70 per cent of the end-users said email impacts positively on their productivity, followed by conventional fixed-line telephone at 53 per cent and mobile telephone at 52 per cent. The research showed that instant messaging, blogs and softphones are considered most disruptive and could negatively impact productivity.

Lopez added that the increase in email use is widening the personal communication gap. "This raises questions about how effective and meaningful email communication is when dealing with problem resolution and discussing complex issues. Also, email can be considered less secure. This could have a negative impact on productivity as end-users struggle to deal with growing volumes of emails," he said.

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