IT Communications Solutions Are Underutilized
Email
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Untapped Potential
71% of employees said they use—at most—just half of a communication tool's features. Nearly 40% said they have access to communications tools they don't know how to use, so they never use them. -
School's Out
One-third said they don't receive training for communications tools. Of those that do get training, half said they receive less than 30 minutes. -
Unsolicited Opinion
77% of employees said they're not consulted before a new communications tool is rolled out, and 58% said they're not consulted on the tool's usefulness post-implementation. -
Communications Tools Provided
Email: 97%, Desk Phone: 86%, Video conferencing: 70%, Teleconferencing: 69%, Mobile phone: 68% -
Personal Touch
74% of employees prefer face-to-face communications. 56% spend at least two hours a day in face-to-face meetings and 30% spend more than five hours in these meetings. -
Multitasking
69% said they use wireless communications tools in meetings, and 76% admit they get distracted by these devices during meetings. -
Rough Start
44% of IT managers said it's difficult to implement a new unified communications solution, and 54% seek a third-party provider to help with this. -
Round-the-Clock
85% of these managers support communications tools outside of normal office hours, as nearly one-half of employees work more than five hours a week outside the office. -
Communications Breakdown
Four out of five managers said 25% of support calls are related to malfunctioning communications tools. -
Risky Business
68% of the IT managers said the variety of communications devices that employees access is creating security risks.
The vast majority of employees don't use most of the features on the communications solutions that their IT departments provide, according to a recent survey from Softchoice. The accompanying report, "Working Hard or Hardly Networked," indicates that far too many tools collect cyber-dust because workers don't know how to use them. More training, of course, would help. But CIOs and their technology organizations must make better, more proactive efforts to get employee feedback about proposed communications tools before acquisition and deployment. When employees aren't actively consulted on these rollouts, they're twice as likely to be dissatisfied at work and three times more likely to view themselves as a "short timer" with their organization, findings reveal. As for what they seek in new communications solutions? For starters, workers want these tools to be easy to use and to help make them more productive. It also helps if the tool has more than one use and is compatible with their mobile devices. An estimated 250 IT managers and 750 line-of-business employees took part in the research.
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