20 September 2007

E-mail is replacing the telephone

The IT industry is placing a stronger onus on communication via e-mail then via phones - and this is a phenomenon that is expected to grow, said Karen Geldenhuys, a director of IT recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment.

"ICT managers are providing end users with e-mail access even before telephones in the UK, and, while this is not yet common practice in this country, we are already seeing signs that this trend is going to increase. People generally e-mail these days, in order to communicate -rather than phone," said Geldenhuys.

According to UK-based on-line publication, www.contractorUK, new research suggests that this trend is in response to workers in corporate Britain, who now prefer to communicate electronically instead of talking on the phone.

"Workers are preferring this means of communication - even though e-mail is a more impersonal way of conducting business. There are also clear records of any communication - although some companies, these days, do record telephone conversations."

Commenting in www.contractorUK, Rob Lopez, managing director of Dimension Data - the company which commissioned the study - said "the dominance of e-mail begs questions about how complex issues, like problem resolution, are being resolved in the workplace".

"Also, e-mail communication can be considered less secure," he said. "This could have a negative impact on productivity as end-users struggle to deal with growing volumes of e-mails."

Lopez's comments follow a recent probe into the messaging habits of academics and creative professionals, which found the average in box checks for new mail up to 40 times an hour.

"I am not sure I agree with Lopez about e-mail being less secure," said Abacus Recruitment's Geldenhuys. "If a company has good checks and balances - and good back-ups - e-mail communication at least leaves a trail of communication. It is recorded. But the problem is that it is less personal. And our world is already becoming less and less personal."

Geldenhuys also said that some workers are inclined to “hide behind e-mails”. “E-mail can be used as a convenient excuse. For example, if an employee is meant to get hold of a client, or a contractor, he or she can send an email and if there is no response, can say: ’but look, I e-mailed him but he did not get back to me yet’. This can be a means of hiding behind e-mail; sometimes you need to follow up by picking up the phone and talking to the person. E-mail can be very effective –if it is used properly. In addition, some people are more visual and some are more audio-driven. This means that some workers respond better to receiving e-mails, while others – who are more audio-driven – prefer to talk to someone, rather than communicate via e-mail. My feeling is that e-mail cannot used like a blanket communications tool. It has to be tempered with personal contact via phone communication and face-to-face meetings.”