Photo by Oliur on Unsplash

Thanks to digital, communications have undergone a massive upheaval. For the past few decades we have been using 1s and 0s to conduct any type of conversation. Most people agree that it’s been a life changer.

UK communications regulator Ofcom has commissioned an online survey to investigate how being “connected” at all times has influenced the way we build and maintain relationships using the Internet. The survey was conducted by YouGov on a sample of 2,290 adults living in the UK.

Internet communications

Seven in ten Internet users say that technology has profoundly changed the way they interact with the world, and six in ten say Internet communication has made life easier. People use a mix of communication methods, both new and old, to stay in touch with family and friends. Email is chief with an 85% share, while text messaging is close behind with 84% daily usage. Face-to-face meetings are still a common practice, whether at work or for personal affairs, with 80% of the respondents saying they still engage with others this way on a daily basis. Yet everyone dreads them.

The good news is that the concept of “in-person meeting” may be on its last legs. Newer online communication methods are gaining significant levels of reach. For example, VoIP video calls are becoming increasingly popular, with more than a third of Internet users adopting the technology to see and hear their peers.

Things are no different in work environments, where meetings are slowly but surely getting eradicated by specialized, team-centric apps that do voice, video, instant messaging, all while keeping project data in the cloud for fast and easy access by every user on payroll. Hubgets is one such app, and we don’t miss a chance to boast about it. But we digress.

Breaking the shackles

Businesses have a lot to learn from this. Desk phones and email continue to command the workplace everywhere around the globe, yet digital communications go far beyond the capabilities of fixed solutions. Two-thirds of online adults agree that being online is “invaluable” for keeping them informed about current issues, while 52% agree that it “inspires” them to try new things. Our marketing department agrees 😉

If there is one thing that always stands out from these studies, it’s this: the figure representing legacy communication solutions dwindles down at the hand of emerging new tech every year. Right now that paradigm shifter is cloud-based Unified Communications – centralization of all of the above for fast and easy access on any device, at home, in the office, or on the go. Digital means instant. Digital means freedom. And everybody wants freedom.