Imagine this: two employees located in separate offices have only an hour left to meet the deadline of a critical project. Instead of settling for the outdated approach of sending countless emails back-and-forth, they leverage the company’s communications and collaboration tools, such as audio conferencing and instant messaging, to conduct a much more effective conversation and strike a business deal in time.

This is very much today’s reality, as people are simply not as attached to email as they used to be. In fact, one could argue we are witnessing the demise of the golden age of email.

Just How Much Do We Email?

To observe the ineffectiveness of email in today’s fast-paced business environment, consider the following numbers: employees check their email 36 times an hour, it takes 16 minutes for employees to refocus after checking email, and 2% of the workweek is spent managing email. In other words, a significant amount of time is wasted on housekeeping instead of production. It also appears that users are not as interested as they used to be with a new-fangled type of email. For instance, when Google attempted to revitalize email with Google Wave, users did not necessarily become more engaged by using the innovative system. Perhaps it was ahead of its time, or perhaps there were just too many features to ever allow it to be defined properly – part email, part Twitter, and part instant messaging.

The introduction of Unified Communications tools has been the biggest driver of this, let’s call it, email disconnect. These tools have become so popular because of their inherit benefits, including faster communication and quicker resolutions to problems. More precisely, after migrating to collaboration software, there’s a 20% to 25% increase in productivity for knowledge workers, 77 percent gain quicker access to information and 60 percent of enterprises reduce communication costs. The statistics are overwhelmingly in favor of collaboration software as companies are adopting solutions to bolster productivity, streamline business processes, and encourage collaboration.
 

 
Let’s take a look at why collaboration software is the wave of the future.

Time Is the Essence

Less dependence on email leads to saving extra time and that translates into more productive work. When companies adopt cutting-edge collaboration tools, employees can use their time more effectively and reach solutions expediently. For instance, instead of emailing back-and-forth to schedule a phone call, your employees can use presence technology to quickly locate and identify if their colleagues are available. For example, with VoipNow, presence would be the first thing to check before calling colleagues. Essential workday time will no longer be wasted on unproductive tasks.

Remote Workforce Is Growing

There is no disputing that the mobile workforce is becoming ubiquitous. In fact, 65% of companies allow employees to work remotely and 67% of employees feel they are more productive when working remotely. As such, it’s important for companies to equip their workers with Unified Communications software. Because it allows them to use instant messaging or rely on audio conferencing to handle more complex and time-consuming problems.

Social Platforms Are Taking Over

As technology has advanced, social platforms have become more and more popular. By leveraging social technologies to bolster communication, companies can improve interaction amongst employees. For instance, social collaboration tools can connect workers in different parts of the company, often across the world, who have similar interests and are trying to solve similar technical problems. With more information and data out there on the Web, social collaboration networks are great for quickly sharing information that everyone needs to know.

Interested in leaving email in the dust and migrating to a cutting-edge collaboration software solution to boost productivity and streamline business processes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.