News

Cloud Direct shines a light on business email issues

New report suggests business leaders are fearful of the economic consequences of poor email management.

26 Sep 2012

Forty per cent of business leaders fear that mistakes with email attachments could end up costing them money, claims a new report.

The Fatal Attachments document, published by cloud service provider Cloud Direct, polled 230 UK business professionals about their email woes.

Attaching files that are too large to send emerged as respondents' top email concern, closely followed by sending and receiving emails without their promised attachments.

Not being able to open attachments on desktop and mobile devices were also cited as major worries by participants.

Meanwhile, 54 per cent said they worried that a "serious mistake" with an email attachment would damage their company's reputation, while eight per cent confirmed they had already lost a client or sale because of such an error.

The study also revealed that 36 per cent of UK employees waste up to 10 minutes a day on email attachments.

Will Rowley, technical engineer at Cloud Direct, said the survey's results shed some light on why so many businesses are turning to online file sharing and collaboration tools.

"Email attachments clearly cause businesses multiple problems, but companies are not addressing the issue. Having efficient access to files anywhere, anytime in a secure environment is now possible and can save businesses time and money," added Rowley.

Geoff Dowell, time management coach at Dowell Consulting, said: "Many people find themselves in high pressured work environments where they have to prioritise urgent tasks.

"Sharing information is simple in theory but it can actually be the time constraints that cause high levels of stress," he added.